Death Was Arrested
by Googz333
Summary: X-Over with Avengers: When Kimberly is warned by a mysterious wizard from the future, it was easy to shrug it off. Twelve years later, she sees her best friends wiped from existence, only confirming that Dr. Stephen Strange was telling her the truth. Now, she must reconnect with the one person she fears most to help the avengers defeat Thanos and reverse the death of billions.
1. Chapter 1

_**Disclaimer: Saban owns the Power Rangers, and Marvel owns the Avengers.**_

 _ **Author's Note: I absolutely loved Avengers Infinity War, and by no means do I want to change it or change Endgame when it comes out. Because of this, I'm really going to try and finish this story before Avengers Endgame comes out, because I don't want this story to be influenced by Endgame (I all ready let the trailer do a little bit of influencing...)**_

 _ **Author's Note 2: "Death was Arrested" is the title of a song by North Point InsideOut.**_

 **Death Was Arrested - Chapter 1**

Kimberly Hart had just completed her final practice before the pan-globals. She had given up much to compete. Her home. Her friends. Her boyfriend. The last one still pained her. It wasn't easy penning the letter that she sent to him, but it was clear that she couldn't focus on gymnastics when Tommy had always been on her mind. She knew that if she wanted to truly compete, she needed to leave her old life behind. Boyfriend, and power rangers, gone forever.

 _'Besides, she knew Katherine had been pining for him for months,'_ She thought. Her routine was like clockwork: workout, shower, walk back to her small apartment. It was peaceful walk back to her home, though she wished she had considered stopping at the local beach to watch the waves crash at night. Alas, she needed her sleep.

She reached her apartment, and went straight for refrigerator. She opened it to find her leftovers the other night, small bits of salad with grilled chicken. However, when she shut the door to the refrigerator, she was shocked to see a man standing in the apartment with her.

"Oh my gosh!" She screamed. The man was oddly dressed, he wore a dark green tunic and a red cloak, and wore a very large medallion around his neck. His hair and facial hair were dark with streaks of gray, and... was he glowing?

"Sorry to startle you," the man replied. "My name is Dr. Stephen Strange, and I'm from the future."

"Wait... what?" Kim asked. "I... I don't understand. How did you get in here, who are you, and how are you from the future?"

"I wish I could explain everything, but I don't have much time," he explained. "Kimberly Hart, you and Tommy Oliver are the key to saving the universe."

"Uhhh... look, I don't really see Tommy anymore, and even if I did, we are not the type of people that could save the univers..."

"I know that you've all ready saved the planet," Strange countered. "Rita Repulsa, Lord Zedd, Master Vile. All global treats, stopped by the power rangers."

"How do you know that?" Kim asked.

"I'm the Master of the Mystic Arts, it's kind of my job to know anything and everything that goes on in our portion of the multi-verse."

"Multi-verse?"

"Sorry, I keep saying words that are going to make this more confusing, let me cut straight to the point. In your future, there will come a time when a being named Thanos is going to wipe out half the population on this planet. You and Tommy survive. You'll need to help Tony Stark and Steve Rogers to get us back, and stop him once and for all."

"How? What? I... how does he..."

"I don't have time to explain everything. Just know that you two are the key to getting us back. And you have to work together."

"But I don't even see him anymore," Kim replied, exasperated. "And when exactly is this supposed to happen? In a month? When will I know that Thanos shows up? And how do you even know that I'll do anything about it?"

"Because you'll see all the people you love turn to dust," he soberly countered. "And you won't be able to stand losing them like that."

"I don't..." Kim was at a loss for words, but the mysterious man interrupted.

"Kimberly, I know this is all confusing. But trust me. I've seen the future. The fate of our universe lies on your shoulders. You hold the keys to defeating Thanos." She stood there trying to comprehend all he was saying, but before she could respond, he continued. "I must go. Remember, when you see people turn to dust, it will be time for you to step in." With that, he disappeared, leaving her flabbergasted at all of what had just happened.

She could barely sleep that night, wondering how this messenger from the future could impact her. She woke up the next morning, and wondered if she had just had a nightmare.

"A messenger from the future," she muttered aloud. "People turning to dust. It's crazy talk Kimberly. Just a crazy dream. Probably a combination of all of Rita's monsters in my head." She tried to convince herself that it was only that. Over time, she forgot. It merely blended in with the rest of the things that she had experienced and drempt over the years.

Twelve years later, she was in Angel Grove celebrating her thirtieth birthday. February 14th, 2009. The original team got together to throw a surprise birthday for her. Jason, Trini, Zack, and even Billy, who was back from Aquitar for a few weeks. They went to a nice restaurant, dressed to the nines, and had fun eating and dancing. As they sat down to dessert, the conversation turned to the topic that Kimberly knew would come up: Tommy.

"Have you talked to him at all?" Billy asked.

"He's still in Reefside," Jason replied. "Ever since he mentored the Dino Thunder Rangers..." Kim nearly spit her drink out at this bit of news.

"He mentored his own team?"

"Mentored them, all the while stealing my color," Zack quipped.

"He wanted to be here tonight," Jason added, but then cut himself off.

"What?" Kim asked. "No... why would he want to be here?" Jason was about to respond, but was cut off by Trini.

"Do you guys feel that?" She asked.

"Feel what?" Kim asked. She looked over at another table and was startled by what she saw. A random diner just disintegrated. Turned to dust.

"Guys did you just..." Kim began to say, but then turned back to Trini, who was fading right before their eyes. "Trini!" She looked over to Billy, whose eyes expressed shock and disgust.

"I..." Before he could say anything, he was gone as well.

"What the heck is going on?" Zack asked. "I... I don't feel too good." Within an instant he was gone too.

"Jason what's going on!?" Kim screamed. She got up and grabbed him tightly, him returning the embrace.

"It's going to be ok, Kim. It's going to be..." Jason's voice faded, his embrace left her, and she stumbled to find that her big brother was no longer embracing her. She grasped hold of the chair that she had been sitting in, gazing around the room, her mouth hanging open from the shock of what she had just seen. Others continued to disappear right before her eyes, while some remained. It was then she realized that the visit from a wizard in the future was no dream. It was a reality. She picked up her phone and looked into her contacts, and found the information for Tommy Oliver. She hesitated for a moment, wondering what he would say. She took a deep breath, pressed the dial button, and waited for him to pick up.

"Hello?" An exasperated voice said on the other line.

"Hey Tommy... it's Kimberly."

"This isn't exactly a great time, I'm sorry..."

"They're gone, Tommy," Kim interrupted. "Jason, Zack, Billy, Trini... all of them, they're gone."

"Dust?" Tommy asked.

"Yeah, how..."

"I just saw the same thing happen to a good friend of mine... among many others..." Tommy's voice trailed off for a moment. "I don't understand, what's happening? Why did you call me?"

"This might sound weird, but I think I know why," Kim replied soberly. "How far is Reefside from Angel Grove?"

"Maybe a couple hours?" Tommy asked. He wondered how she knew he lived there, but figured this wasn't the time or place to ask about it.

"Ok... I have a rental car here in Angel Grove, I'll come to you," Kim replied.

"Wait... why?" Tommy asked.

"Because a wizard from the future said we would be the only way to save the universe."

*Titan*

Tony Stark was in disbelief. They failed. Thanos retrieved all six infinity stones. The master of mystic-arts, Dr. Strange, caved on his promise to protect the time stone with his own life, and it led to the destruction of half the universe. He watched the Guardians fade away, and Dr. Strange did as well. But it was Peter that destroyed him. He would never admit it, but Peter felt like the son he never had. He grew quite fond of Peter. He held onto him as long as he could, grasping hold of him, hoping that the terror of his exit would never come. Peter's voice echoed through his mind.

" _Mr. Stark... I don't wanna go..."_

"You've mourned long enough," Nebula scoffed, the only other survivor from the battle of Titan. "We need to regroup, see who else survived." Tony didn't budge. He didn't even flinch. "Come on, my ship..."

"What's the point," Tony interjected sullenly. "We plotted and planned, we had him." He stood up, continuing to stare off into the wasteland that was Titan. "I don't even know who's still alive back on earth."

"Look, we can figure that out when we get there..."

"You don't get it!" Tony yelled. "We lost. I've been preparing for Thanos for six years. He was in my head, I was waiting for him to come. I..." Tony's voice trailed off. "I don't need to explain myself to you." He finally turned to her. "I don't even know who you are."

"My name is Nebula... daughter of Thanos."

"Daughter?"

"Unfortunately," she reviled. "You are not the only one who has lost today."

"No..." Suddenly, Tony stopped. "Do you remember... no, you wouldn't remember, you weren't here for that."

"Here for what?"

"Strange... he went forward in time. He saw... there was one time that we could defeat Thanos. That was it."

"Well, clearly we didn't find the one way," Nebula muttered.

"Right before Strange phased out of existence, he told me that there was no other way. What if this had to take place? What if our one way to defeating Thanos was him sparing my life by giving him the stone? What if we can change this?"

"What if you're wrong?" Nebula challenged.

"Only one way to find out," Tony replied. "You said you have a ship?"

*Reefside, California – Hayley's Cyberspace*

Kimberly walked through the front entrance of the establishment, slowly stepping through as she could hardly see. The lights were out, chairs, stools, and tables were strewn all about, making it difficult to know where exactly she should walk.

"Why would he be at an internet cafe?" she pondered aloud. "What happened to this place?"

"There's been looting all over the town," a familiar voice greeted her, coming from the other side of the room. "I thought if I made it seem like people all ready raided the place, it would be safe." He stepped a bit into the moonlight coming through the windows, revealing that it was, in fact, Tommy.

"Why would you care about keeping this place safe?" Kim asked. "Hayley your wife?" Kim was surprised she said the question so abruptly, and became worried at the answer as he grimaced. "She turned to dust..." She realized. "Tommy, I'm so sorry." He came closer at pulled a stool from off the ground, propped it up to sit in it.

"She's not my wife," Tommy revealed. "My best friend, but certainly not my wife."

"You saw her fade away..."

"I did," Tommy replied. "It started with customers, half of them just gone in almost an instant. She started to run... she has an emergency kit in the back."

"No emergency kit could have stopped this," Kim replied, drawing closer to him.

"Maybe... but this wasn't exactly the run of the mill emergency kit. It had remnants of the dino thunder powers as part of a emergency morpher. Who knows if maybe that would have helped... if..."

"You can't blame yourself, Tommy," Kim consoled him, placing her hand on his shoulder. "She helped you design the Dino Thunder powers, didn't she?" Tommy nodded. "Tommy, there's a way to get her back. Just like there's a way to get Jason and the others back."

"How?" Tommy asked. "Who did this?"

"Thanos," Kim replied.

"That's what the wizard said?" Tommy said, a slight hint of disbelief tainting his subdued voice.

"Dr. Stephen Strange," Kim replied.

"Do you think he has a connection to Tony Stark?" Tommy asked, his voice perking up. He wandered over and clicked on one of the computers, and pulled up clips on the computer from the earlier attack on the news. "There's four of them fighting off those aliens, is he..."

"Oh my gosh... he's right there, wearing that big necklace," Kim gasped.

"He was the one that was kidnapped," Tommy replied. "Stark flew up to the space ship to stop them. Do you think that had anything to do with what happened here?"

"Strange knew what was going to happen. In fact... he knew what, and when..." Her voice trailed off. "He said we would need to help Tony Stark and Steve Rogers. And that we would know when Thanos accomplished his plot, when we would see those we love turn to dust. Dr. Strange was right." Kim's voice trailed off for a moment, pondering for a moment. "I'm not exactly sure what to do next though."

"I have an idea," Tommy replied. "But we'll need to go back to my home. Hopefully looters don't find their way out to my neck of the woods."

"How far away do you live?"

"About twenty-five minutes out, almost in the middle of nowhere," Tommy replied. "Follow me."

To be continued...

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to review!

\- Googz333


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

*Wakanda*

 _'Steve?' Bucky's voice was laced with confusion. His arm began to turn to dust, leaving his best friend, Steve Rogers, to watch in horror as he fully disintegrated. Rogers looked around him to see other teammates, dear friends, brothers and sisters in arms, dying right in front of them. T'Challa. Wanda. Sam._

"Steve?" Natasha Romanoff stirred Captain America back to the present. They sat in a room within the Wakandan palace, what seemed to be a preparation room for the Dora Milaje, Wakanda's army. At the present moment, it was just the two of them. He was seated up against a wall, Natasha sliding in right next to him.

"I keep seeing him in my head," Rogers confessed. "Bucky was so confused. And then... he was just gone."

"Don't go down this road," Romanoff gently challenged him. "Thanos was a whole different type of threat."

"We lost half the universe," Steve shot back. "Doesn't really matter if we went up against a different type of threat." He stood up and began to pace. "Where do we go from here?"

"Maybe we'll be lucky and Thunderbolt Ross was wiped from existence," Romanoff quipped. "At least then we'll be reinstated."

"Ross wasn't the bad guy, Natasha..." Steve's voice began to fade once more, this time due to another memory.

 _'I'm sorry Tony. He's my friend." Steve stood there, ready to continue his fight with Iron Man, trying to save his best friend from youth._

" _So was I."_

"Maybe this is all my fault," Steve reasoned. "If I had just signed the accords... If I had just told Tony..."

"What's done is done," Natasha interjected, standing up. "All we can do now is grieve, and figure out what to do next." She walked over and embraced him, resting there for a long time. Tears flowed from both heroes for minutes. And then they broke apart, wiped their faces, and exited the room to find the depleted avengers team waiting for them. Rhodes, Bruce Banner, Thor, and their new friend Rocket Raccoon.

"What's up?" Steve asked.

"The Wakandans want us to clear out soon," Rhodey explained. "Something about this not being their fight anymore."

"We need them on this," Natasha replied.

"Maybe we can float the idea later down the line," Bruce jumped in. "Look, they just lost their king. A good chunk of their land has been destroyed. Emotions are running high, it may not be the right time to ask them this."

"Look, buddy, who cares about emotions," the diminuitive Raccoon snapped. "Didja see what just happened? Did they?"

"Rabbit, as much as you are right, it may be difficult to enlist their services," Thor replied.

"Did you just call him rabbit?" Rhodey asked. "You do know that's a raccoon, right? I mean..." Rhodes stopped himself for a minute. "I'm arguing over a talking raccoon... you know, it's still blowing my mind a bit that you talk, right?"

"If I had a unit for everytime I've heard that one..." Rocket quipped.

"Look, not to break up our brief moment of levity, but we've got to figure out our next play," Bruce interjected.

"Do we have anyway of knowing if Tony is alive?" Steve asked.

"We could contact Pepper, see if he's spoken to her," Natasha added.

"That is if she's still alive," Rhodey responded. "Look... we could head back to home base, send out a signal to any who would still be alive. Gather together and see if we can figure out a workable plan."

"All right, let's get the jet and get ready," Steve decided.

*1992 Valencia Road, Reefside, CA*

"You live all the way out here?" Kim asked as she got out of her car. Tommy was ahead of her, leading her up to the front porch of his home.

"Yeah... you know me," Tommy replied as he thumbed through his keys to get his house key. "I used to go to my uncle's cabin to get time alone. I appreciate the seclusion, gives me time and space to think and proces..." Tommy's voice trailed off as he went to stick his key into the doorknob. Curiously, the door had opened on its own. "That's strange... I never forget to close and lock my door."

"Do you think..." Kim started.

"Shhh," Tommy silenced her, putting a finger up to his mouth. He stealthily entered his home, using his phone as a flashlight. He flipped on the lights, and entered his living room cautiously. Kim followed, looking behind her just to make sure no one was following them. She slowly closed the door in hopes that no one would hear them, and then signaled to Tommy that no one followed them in as she entered the living room.

Tommy looked around the room, stroking the model t-rex skeleton on his side table on its head before moving past Kimberly towards the kitchen. He slid his arm across the wall to flip on a light switch, and as the room was illuminated, he was shocked to find a man dressed in black sitting down at his kitchen table. His head was shaved on the sides, brown and slicked up on top. He had a sword holstered on his back, a quiver on the other side of his back with what looked like an endless supply of arrows. His bow was on the table, his hands open, showing no signs that he wanted to fight.

"My intel says you know how to use teleportation devices," the man grunted. The man's voice startled Kimberly, who gave an audible gasp. She cautiously stepped into the room, sliding beside her ex, trembling at his presence. "All I want is access, and I'll be on my way."

"Even if I could..."

"Dr. Oliver, don't try and talk your way out of this," the man interjected calmly. "S.H.I.E.L.D has long known about your association with a certain group of spandex wearing super heroes."

"Who are you?" Tommy asked.

"My latest cover?" The man asked. "Was as Ronin. Some know me as Hawkeye. But my family... they knew me as Clint. The Bartons." Though his demeanor was bordering on menacing, Kim noticed the tear that was forming in the corner of his eye. "Do you have any idea what it's like to wake up, just like it's any other day. You make your kids... your wife breakfast. You play with them, you kiss them, you embrace them, you laugh together, just for someone or something to rip them away from you?"

"What happened to them?" Kim asked, dreading that she all ready knew the answer.

"First it was my oldest, Cooper. He went the quickest. We were playing ball out in the yard, I threw him a pass. But he slowed up... and he just vanished." Clint closed his eyes for a moment, the pain of reliving the moment getting to him. "Lila was next. I ran into the house..." A tear slid from his eye. "She was playing with one of her favorite dolls when she just turned to ash. Nathaniel was with my wife, Laura. He was seated at the table, waiting for Laura to finish dinner. Gone in an instant. Turned to ash."

"He really did wipe out half the planet," Kim muttered.

"Who?" Clint asked, staring at her intently. "Who did this?"

"I'm not sure exactly who he is... but his name is Thanos."

"You worked with the Avengers, right?" Tommy interjected. Clint nodded. Tommy looked over towards Kimberly. "That guy who warned you about this, he said we needed to find Tony Stark, right? Would you know where he is?"

"I don't know where he is, but I have an idea of where Steve Rogers is," Barton replied. "That's why I wanted to use your teleportation tech. I wanted to find a way to get to them as quickly as possible, but with all the air traffic going haywire, there's no way to get to them fast right now. If I could teleport, I could join up with them faster."

"Tommy, I thought teleportation died with the command center and Zordon?" Kim asked.

"Not exactly," Tommy replied. "Look Clint, we can get you to where you need to go, but on one condition."

"What's that?"

"Take us with you."

"You want to come and join our merry band of misfits?" Clint asked.

"If you had intel on our technology, you certainly know our former occupation as power rangers," Tommy retorted.

"I know all about that," Clint replied. "But you lost your powers years ago, right?" Tommy grinned, and then walked over to the side table with the model t-rex on it. He pulled down on the jaw, and it revealed a secret passageway, a staircase in the middle of the living room floor that descended to the basement.

"Follow me," Tommy said. They wandered down the stairs to the old command center of the Dino Thunder rangers. Much of it looked like it hadn't been touched for years. But there were a couple of work stations that still seemed presently in use, including a large computer and viewing screen at the end of the room.

"This was where you operated out of, isn't it?" Kim asked.

"The Dino Thunder rangers, yes," Tommy replied. He sat down at a desk, and pulled a keyboard in front of him and began typing, all of which was being displayed on the screen. "You had asked about our teleportation tech, but we don't exactly have access to straight teleportation any more. It died with the power chamber explosion back when Divatox destroyed it in her fight with the Turbo rangers. But one thing that we discovered was there's a network of invisi-portals. They can essentially teleport you to certain locations. One thing we could do is tap into that network and see if it can take us where we want to go."

"Was that your idea all along?" Kim asked.

"Not exactly," Tommy replied, still typing up a storm. "Remember when I told you I had an emergency kit back at Hayley's?" Kim nodded. "I have some pieces here that might be helpful for us. It should be able to let me make some makeshift morphers for the time being, at least until we can find the zeo crystal."

"The zeo crystal?" Kim asked.

"That still exists?" Surprisingly, Clint asked.

"You knew about that, too?"

"The zeo crystal is one of the most powerful energy sources on the planet, if not in the galaxy," Clint reasoned. "You really don't understand how much S.H.I.E.L.D. knew about you guys, or about what you had in your arsenal, do you?"

"I don't, but the problem is I need to find out where it is," Tommy replied. "I have my shard, and it gives me temporary power to my zeo ranger powers. But I need to find the whole crystal, and the other shards."

"That would mean..." Kim started to say, but Tommy finished her thought.

"We have to hope that Rocky, Adam, Tanya, and Kat are still alive. Or, that we can find their zeo shards." Before Tommy continued, there was a beeping sound on the computer.

"What's that?" Kim asked.

"The computer has locked onto the invisiportal network," Tommy replied. "The question is where are we going?"

"There's an Avengers facility in upstate New York," Clint replied. He nudged Tommy out of his seat and typed in the coordinates. "How long until we can get there?"

"Shouldn't take more than a few minutes," Tommy replied.

To Be Continued...

Thanks for reading, don't forget to review!

\- Googz333


	3. Chapter 3

_**Author's Note: I forgot to mention that I have this set in 2009, mainly to help the timelines of Power Rangers and Avengers in sync. Just think of the Avengers timeline starting in 1998, rather than 2008 (When Iron Man first hit theaters)**_

 **Chapter 3 - Death** Was **Arrested**

*New York City*

The alleyway was dead. No activity, no signs of life. It was light outside, it was the only sign of normalcy in an otherwise chaotic time. Without much warning, there was a ripple, then a flash... suddenly Scott Lang, also known as Ant-Man, appeared wearing his super suit.

"Hope!" He cried. "Hope!" Silence. "Hank! Janet!" Still silence. He flipped off his helmet and looked around, but found nothing. "Where am I?" He wondered aloud. He wandered out into main drag of the city, but where he expected taxis, hustle and bustle; instead there was nothing but wreckage. "Something's not right." He continued to look around, starting to dread ever finding his way out of the quantum realm.

He looked on the horizon to find the old Avengers tower, though it had certainly seen better days. "Well, Mr. Stark, looks like you ran out of all your ingenious robots to keep something clean," he quipped. "Serves you right..."

A big crash behind him stopped his frustrated venting. He hurriedly looked behind him to see two of the ugliest looking creatures he had ever seen. They looked like giant, black, dogs, but had six arms in addition to their legs. If it had eyes, he couldn't see them. But their teeth... large, gleaming white, razor sharp teeth.

"What in the..." He said audibly. It wasn't so loud, but loud enough to attract the attention of the beasts that stood hundreds of feet away. "Oh no."

The animals roared, and began to chase down the displaced hero, who turned and ran, hoping he could escape them. He weaved his way through the wreckage of all the cars, trucks, and other objects that clogged the New York City streets, trying to figure out where he could go. It didn't take long for the beasts to catch up to him, however, and they pinned him down and slashed at him with their claws, Scott screaming as they sought to devour him. He tried desperately to press the regulator so that he might have a chance to defeat them, but his arms were pinned between the animals and part of the wreckage in the streets. He heard one of the animals yelp, however, and then the other one was sent flying with an energy blast. He quickly stood up and looked around, only to be shocked at who he saw.

"Let's get you out of here," Tony Stark said, wearing his red and gold iron man suit. He landed and retrieved the battered Ant-Man. As they flew, they flew right past where Scott thought they would go, the avengers building. They flew out towards the Hudson River, where Tony slowed down over the middle of the body of water. "Pegasus." As soon as he uttered those words, a very familiar object emerged from the depths.

"The raft?" Scott asked, his tone a frustrated one. "Seriously, you save me from those things to put me in prison again?"

"Scott, this hasn't been a prison for a long time," Tony said, waiting for it to fully emerge until they descended.

"Then what is it?" Scott asked quizzically.

"My home." The statement shocked Scott. But before he could ask anymore questions they descended down to the raft, which had become a very large research facility hidden underwater. They closed the hatch and sealed off the room, the loud humming outside indicating that the large vessel was submerging once more. Tony's helmet disappeared in a flash, revealing a much more pronounced gray color in his hair, and he turned to Scott.

"We thought you were dead," Tony replied.

"Dead?" Scott asked.

"We figured the decimation wiped you out, and if not, then soon after when Red Skull and his army of outriders came to invade a vulnerable planet..."

"Hold on Tony, I'm confused," Scott stopped him. "Decimation? Red Skull? Outriders?"

"You don't know?" Tony asked.

"Know what?" Scott asked.

"Come with me," Tony replied. Scott shrugged his shoulders and followed him down to the main level of the vessel. "What's the last thing you remember?"

"I was doing an experiment with Hank, Janet, and Hope," Scott replied. "We were..."

"Hank Pym?" Tony stopped him, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Yeah, you know him, heard you guys were rivals and..."

"Pym's been dead for five years," Tony replied solemnly.

"What?" Scott asked. "What do you mean he's been dead for five years? I just saw him, we just..." he stopped himself for a moment. "What year is it?

"2014," Tony replied. Scott gasped. "I can explain some things in a minute, but it would be helpful if you saw something first." They walked onto the main command center of the vessel, which was filled with work stations, computers, and had a modest number of people working behind the desks. "Just to give you fair warning, you might be shocked by what you see next."

"What's that?" Scott asked.

"Hi Dad," a voice said from behind them. They turned to find a young woman, probably no more than 14 or 15 years old. She had beautiful, long brown hair, and her eyes... they gazed into Scott's, and he knew without a doubt that this was his daughter, Cassie Lang.

"Peanut?" He asked. She ran to him and embraced him, beginning to weep over her long lost father. Scott's face, however, was now even more shocked than before.

After a few moments to collect themselves, they went to another room to piece together what was happening. "So... five years ago, you were working on a project with Dr. Pym," Tony started. "What were you guys doing?"

"We were collecting samples from the quantum realm," Scott replied. "I lost contact with them, and had no way to get back. So I explored for the next couple hours or so, and then after traveling through a couple of weird looking things, I ended up here."

"The quantum realm?" Tony asked.

"You went there when you went sub-atomic, right?" Cassie asked.

"Yeah," he replied. "Janet mentioned that there was a possibility of traveling through time vortexes... that must've happened in my time down there. But... why did I lose contact with them initially?"

"Thanos," Tony replied. "It's the only explanation."

"Who's Thanos?" Scott asked.

"Remember the battle of New York?" Scott nodded. Tony continued. "Thanos was the one that sent Loki. Sent the army to destroy the city. Well, while you were exploring the quantum realm, Thanos was launching a universal attack. He was collecting the infinity stones, which if all six were assembled together, he had the ability to wipe out half of humanity. He got them, and, well... all he had to do was snap his fingers."

"You said Hank was gone... but what about Hope? Janet?"

"I'm sorry Dad," Cassie replied. "We never found them."

"I... I don't..." Scott stammered. "What happened to this Thanos guy?"

"We never found him again," Tony confessed. "I assumed he was back on his home planet. I came back and isolated myself, tried to build a Thanos killing weapon. Meanwhile, Thanos loaned his army to an old foe of Cap, the Red Skull. Apparently he repaid the favor to him for helping him get one of the stones. So the exiled avengers... the ones that were left anyway, they went to fight. Thor went to find help and never returned. I was too angry and bitter to join the fight, and the Avengers were eliminated one by one. Cap was the last survivor." A tear came to Tony's eye. "At that point we had reconciled, promised to help him fight... but at that point, resources were spread thin. We had a mission where the two of us had to split up. Red Skull got the jump on him... we lost him about two months ago."

"I..." Scott was speechless. How could he leave for the quantum realm, only to show back up in reality where everything was so disjointed? "I'm sorry, Tony."

"Don't be sorry, Scott," Tony replied. "Because, maybe... just maybe... we still have our one shot to get everyone back."

"What do you mean?" Scott asked.

"What if we could control a time vortex so you could go back in time? You could take some of the tech Tony was working on back to my past self, convince him to work with the Avengers?" Cassie asked.

"Peanut... how do you even know if we could do that?"

"Because I've been using Hank's tech to help in the fight against Red Skull," she replied.

"What?!" Scott shouted. He looked angrily at Tony. "You put my daughter in danger?!"

"Scott, you have to realize, we don't have many people to turn to," Tony calmly responded. "Cassie volunteered, and, quite honestly, there aren't many others that can help us." Scott relented, and then looked back at his daughter, and then back to Tony.

"Let's get me back to the past," Scott replied.

*Avengers Facility – Upstate New York, Present Day*

Clint, Tommy, and Kimberly arrived via the invisiportal network, appearing right outside of the training room within the facilities.

"That was a hell of a rush," Clint said, shaking his head.

"Yeah, it takes a while to get used too," Tommy replied. "You ok, Kim?" She nodded without saying anything.

"Let's head over to the security station, I should be able to look at the video feeds to see if any of the avengers are back... and if there's anyone I should avoid."

"Avoid?" Kim asked.

"The Sokovia Accords have blacklisted me and a whole host of superheroes from avenging," Clint explained as he led them through the facility.

"I would think they'd make an exception considering that half the world's population just died," Kim reasoned.

"Yeah... somehow, if 'Thunderbolt' Ross survived, he'd find a way to pin it on us," Clint explained. "He was adamant that the Avengers break up in the first place. If I hadn't agreed to retiring, they would have kept me locked up for the rest of my life."

"Goodness," Tommy sighed. "Locking up heroes for trying to protect people."

"It's amazing he never came around after one of our giant zord battles wrecked the city," Kim quipped.

"Well, that might have had something to do with Director Fury," Clint replied. They made it to the door that led to the security station, and he picked the lock to open the door. "Fury wanted to keep you guys out of danger, so he made sure that whatever information he had on you all, that it was kept secret to most of S.H.I.E.L.D. He felt you were too valuable to have the general organization know more than the basics about you guys."

"Was Fury the leader of S.H.I.E.L.D.?" Kim asked.

"Yes," Clint answered. "He's also the one who thought up the Avengers." They explored the smallish room and found the video monitors, which were behind a rounded desk. They gazed into the screens and saw almost no signs of life.

"Looks like it's deserted," Tommy observed.

"Huh," Clint replied. "Except Director Fury..." His voice trailed off. He pulled up video of the common room that the Avengers shared while living on base. "He's here."

"Well... that's good, right?" Kim asked. She expected him to answer, but he ignored the comment and looked more closely at the man through the screen. He was fiddling with a kitchen knife in his right hand as he paced the room.

"It would be good if that were actually Fury," Clint replied. "Somebody's impersonating him."

"How do you know?" Kim asked.

"He's left-handed," he replied. "And he doesn't pace."

"Maybe that's changed now that everyone's dead?" Kim asked.

"I'm telling you... that's not him. I don't know who he is, but that isn't Fury."

"Well, then what do we do?" Tommy asked.

"We could try and take him out, question him, figure out his motive," Clint started to explain. "Or, we could wait and see if back up arrives."

"That is if they're coming," Kim added. "Tommy, you said you have your zeonizers, how long can you hold the power before it fails?"

"It depends," Tommy replied. "A few years back I used the powers, and they didn't fail on me. But I have no idea how much juice this thing has without a direct connection to the morphin grid or the zeo crystal. I brought the emergency morpher as well, but again, the dino gem doesn't exactly have a lot of power there right now."

"Look, let's wait it out for a couple of hours," Clint reasoned. "We haven't given our position away, and whoever that is doesn't seem to be too keen on searching anyone else out right now. I'll keep my eyes open on the monitor, see if there's anything else unusual."

"But what about..."

"If the others arrive, we'll make our grand entrance," Clint interrupted Kim. "Look, I know you don't like this right now, but this is our best option right now."

"Who do you think he could be?" Tommy asked.

"Well, there's a whole host of possibilities," Clint admitted. "But if I had my money to bet, I'd bet it on an Asgardian."

"Thor?" Kim asked. "But I thought he controlled thunder and lightning?"

"Not thinking about Thor," Clint replied. Suddenly, they heard a loud noise from outside, eminating from a quinjet flying above them. "They're home."

Steve Rogers led his remaining crew into the Avengers facility, making their entrance into the common room where Director Fury was waiting. "Director Fury?" Rogers asked.

"Captain," Fury replied, turning around to face the remaining Avengers. "What took you so long?"

"We were in Wakanda," Natasha replied. "Honestly, it's a marvel we got here when we did."

"Any word on Stark?" Thor asked.

"Stark?" Fury asked.

"Yeah, where's Tony?" Bruce asked. "We called Pepper on the way, she has no idea where he is."

"That's not important now," Fury replied. "We have word that imminent threats are coming here. Thor, we need you to find the other Asgardians, enlist their help until we can assess the damage here."

"Why my people?" Thor asked. "Why now?"

"Because people from your world can help us, and right now they don't have a home," Fury explained. "They can come here for respite, and..."

"What do you mean Asgardians wouldn't have a home?" Steve asked.

"Asgard was destroyed by my sister," Thor explained. "Which... how would you know about Asgard's destruction?"

"Like I always say, you need to keep both eyes open," Fury smiled. Right then, a silent figure dropped from the rafters behind Fury, landing and quickly drawing his katana, placing the blade on Fury's neck.

"Luckily I always do," Clint threatened.

"Clint?" Natasha gasped, seeing the director in peril. "What are you doing?"

"Exposing a rat," Clint replied. Flanking behind him were Tommy and Kim, who were merely in awe at being in the same room as Earth's Mightiest Heroes.

"Look Barton, I..."

"You're not going to talk your way out of this... Loki."

"That's impossible," Thor reasoned. "I watched Thanos strangle his lifeless body." In that moment, a saddened Fury transformed. They recognized him instantly. The slicked, long black hair. His green tunic, with gold adornments, and pale white skin.

"Surprise," Loki replied sullenly. "I assure you brother, my deception was not meant for evil."

"I watched you die!" Thor shouted, raising Stormbreaker, his axe. "Why would you..."

"I want Thanos dead," Loki replied. "I want our people to be restored. I thought... I thought I could help you, while also sparing you the pain of knowing that I was still alive."

"Yeah right," Clint quipped. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't let this blade sink right into your neck? How do we know you didn't help Thanos kill all our friends? Our families?!" A tear formed in his eye as he gripped his sword tightly, his face strained as he so desperately wanted a reason to let it plunge into his flesh.

"Family... oh Clint," Natasha gasped. "Laura..."

"They're all dead!" He shouted. "And now you're going to die..."

"Clint, hold on for a minute," Kim warned, placing her hand on his arm. "He might be responsible, but what if he isn't?" Clint looked at her as if she were crazy. But Tommy backed her up.

"She's right," he added. "Look, even if he is responsible, you kill him, there's no way to figure out what he knows. What if he's instrumental in getting our friends back?"

"No offense, but who exactly are you people?" Natasha questioned.

"Reinforcements," Tommy replied. Clint looked at the former leader of the power rangers, and after a moment of tension, he lowered his sword.

"You're right," Barton replied. "But for the record, I don't trust you."

"I don't doubt that," Loki replied. "I am sorry, brother."

"We can discuss it later, Loki," Thor replied matter-of-factly. "Right now, we need to know anything you can tell us about Thanos." Thor and Loki wandered off, deciding that it would be helpful for the pair to talk privately, knowing that their shared connection with Thanos destroying their people might help them piece together things. Meanwhile, Tommy and Kim made their introductions to the rest of the Avengers.

"So you guys were earth's first power rangers?" Rhodes asked. They nodded. "I remember back when you guys first hopped on the scene, we had training drills on how to handle both the monsters and your zords. Crazy..."

"Power rangers... that sounds kinda stupid..." Rocket muttered as he scurried up on the counter. His appearance startled Tommy and Kim.

"Is that a..."

"Yes, I look like a stupid raccoon," Rocket interrupted Kim. "We get it, no one's used to a raccoon that talks, can we get on with the conversation."

"So... is this all there's left?" Clint asked out of the blue. "Wanda, Sam, Vision?"

"All gone," Steve replied.

"And Bucky?" Clint asked. Steve nodded, the sadness in his eyes indicating the pain he felt over the loss of his friends. "I'm sorry, Cap." He put his arm around his shoulders, comforting him.

"Thanks."

"Any word from Tony?" Clint asked.

"Nothing," Bruce cut in. "Neither he or Scott Lang is responding. And I don't really know exactly how to get in touch with Wong, unless we went to the New York Sanctum."

"Wong?" Clint asked. "Sanctum?"

"He... uhh... is a wizard, works with..."

"Doctor Strange?" Kim interrupted.

"How... how do you know about Strange?" Bruce asked.

"Wait... there's really a guy by the name of Doctor Strange?" Rocket chimed in. "That's the stupidest name I ever heard of."

"Yes, there's a real guy by the name of Doctor Strange, and I know him because he told me we were the key to stopping Thanos' plot," Kim shared.

"What do you mean?" Steve asked.

"Twelve years ago, an astral projection of Doctor Strange showed up in my apartment. But he was from this time. He told me that he looked forward in time, and saw there was only one way to defeat Thanos, and that I would have to find a way to help you," she said, pointing to Steve, "and Tony."

"We think the key might be in the zeo crystal," Tommy added.

"I remember hearing about that, it was in Fury's files," Banner replied. "Massive energy source, never knew where it went."

"My guess is it's buried somewhere underneath our old command center," Tommy replied. "But I have my zeo shard. It's the source of, well, what's left of my zeo ranger powers. I need to try and get in contact with the rest of my old team, see who's still alive, and see if we can get the shards."

"Look, even if your old teammates are still alive, and we get these shards, what's it going to do for us?" Rhodes asked.

"I don't know," Kim replied. "All I know is that Dr. Strange said we were key to helping you."

"Tommy, when you said that the zeo crystal helped you become the zeo power rangers, how exactly did it do that?" Banner asked.

"It was connected to the morphing grid," Tommy replied. "The grid was able to give us unique powers, but our original powers were destroyed. We needed a new source of power to allow the grid to continue to give us our powers."

"The zeo crystal isn't just a power source, it could harness power as well," Banner realized.

"What do you mean?" Rogers asked.

"The grid... while it needed a power source, it had some elements of power and structure all ready, right?"

"Yeah..." Tommy started.

"What if the zeo crystal could harness even greater powers?" Banner pondered. "Like the power of the infinity stones?"

"That's all well and good, but last time we saw Thanos, he teleported on out of here," Romanoff replied. "How can we get the stones if we don't know where Thanos is?"

"One step at a time," Steve replied, shaking out of his contemplative state. "Look, this isn't exactly going to be a quick fix. But let's start working on what we can control. Tommy, can you call your former teammates, ask them to come here?"

"Sure thing," Tommy replied.

"Rocket, you're familiar with space travel, is it possible for you to use what we have here to help us find Thanos?"

"I might be able to figure it out, but it might take a while," Rocket replied. "Your technology ain't exactly advanced..." he muttered under his breath.

"Use whatever means necessary," Steve challenged.

"I can probably help with that," Bruce added.

"Ha, I doubt it," Rocket quipped, much to the chagrin of the rest of the team.

"Actually, I think it would be helpful if you went to see Wong, see if you can track down Tony," Steve replied.

"That is if he's still alive," Bruce wondered. "Don't you think you should come along?"

"I'm not sure Tony would want to see me," Steve sighed. "The last thing he would want is to take an order from the guy who abandoned him."

"I'll go," Kim said suddenly. "I'll go with you, Dr. Banner. Strange came to see me. If I can explain that to Stark, maybe it will help ease some of the tension between the two of you?" She paused, waiting for Steve to give the go ahead. He nodded in agreement. "Besides, if he isn't there, maybe Wong can help us know more about what Strange meant by everything he shared with me."

"Great," Steve replied. "Natasha, Clint, and Rhodey, you'll work with me to figure out next steps here on the ground. There's a lot of frightened people out there, and we're going to need to find help, as well as communicate with the government to see how we can help."

"Hopefully Ross won't have a problem with you coming back," Rhodey quipped.

"He doesn't have a choice," Steve commented. Tommy entered back into the room with a frown on his face. "Tommy?"

"No one picked up," he sighed.

"It's possible they too were wiped away by the snap," Natasha replied. The possible realization brought an added weight to both Tommy and Kimberly. Not only were their original teammates gone, but now all of the zeo rangers, minus Tommy, were gone too?

"Maybe," Steve interjected. "But we can't assume anything. Look, you said that you think the zeo crystal is hidden underneath your old command center, right?" Tommy nodded. "Call your old team back, tell them that if they're alive, to meet us there."

"Us?" Tommy asked.

"I'm going with you."

"Steve, what about..." Natasha started, but Steve continued.

"If this crystal is buried underneath the ground, Tommy's going to need another set of hands to get to it."

"Fair enough," Natasha replied. "We'll stay here and work on potential solutions, and support Rocket here. We'll fill Thor and Loki in once they come back."

"I'll get on the line with Ross and see if we know who's left," Rhodes added. The looks given by Clint and Natasha caused Rhodes to further elaborate. "I'll make sure I speak carefully, to make sure that there isn't any desire to arrest you." The pair relaxed at the explanation.

"I'll fire up the jet," Steve replied to Tommy. "Bruce, do you know where you and Ms. Hart are going?"

"Bleecker Street, shouldn't take too long to get there by car," he replied. The Avengers filed out, leaving Tommy and Kimberly alone for a moment.

"Be careful out there, ok?" Kim said, beginning to chew her bottom lip.

"We're going to get our friends back," Tommy replied. "I promise." He placed his arm on her shoulder, trying to reassure her. However, he could tell something wasn't right. "What is it?"

"The last time we said goodbye, I made a really stupid decision that kept us from talking for the next twelve years," Kim muttered. "I just hope neither of us run into trouble."

"When you're a power ranger, you don't exactly avoid trouble," Tommy chided.

"I know," Kim replied. "Come back in one piece."

"You too."

 _ **To Be Continued...**_

 _ **Thanks for Reading, don't forget to review!**_

 _ **\- Googz333**_


	4. Chapter 4

_**Author's Note: This will be the last post for about ten days. I'll be without internet access, but should be back to regular posting afterwards.**_

 _ **Also, thanks to all who have read, followed, and reviewed thus far! I appreciate all the encouragement!**_

 **Death Was Arrested - Chapter 4**

*Deep Space*

Tony reclined on a chair in a small portion of Nebula's ship, his feet resting on a small table in the center of the room. They had been traveling for what felt like days, and while it seemed he was able to rest, the memories of his latest battle made him restless. He wanted to get home, get back to his workshop, start working on solutions. The sound of Strange's voice continued to motivate him, he knew that one way or another he would help save the universe.

"There was no other way," he repeated to himself. He fiddled with a bag of zargnuts, which was about the only food that he felt was tolerable that Nebula had given him. There wasn't much in terms of rations, Nebula hadn't planned on needing too much in the way of sustainance on her journey to Titan, but there was at least enough for the two of them to eat for at least a few more days. His rations were in his little section, which doubled as a pod that he could use to pilot himself if ever needed.

He swung his legs off the table and stood up, stretching his arms upwards and swinging his head and neck, trying to keep from getting too tense on the intergalactic flight. He walked over towards a metal helmet. Most of the remaining nano technology was used to form it, and he pushed a button to see a holographic image of Pepper Potts eminating from it's power source. "I'm coming home to you." He went to graze her face with his fingers, but they phased right through. "That is... if you're still here."

Before he could say anything else, he noticed something moving towards their ship out the window. He walked over to the window to see what was going on, and to his dismay, hundreds of golden plated ships were approaching. He went to walk out of his room to warn Nebula, but before he could, the airlock door separating his pod from the rest of the ship shut. He banged on the door and yelled. "Hey! Open up! Something's coming straight for us!"

"I closed the airlock door, just in case," Nebula grunted through the ship's intercom system. "I'm picking up activity..." Explosions interrupted her explanation, as the group of ships attacked theirs.

"Let me out! Let me help you!" Tony pleaded. But before he could say anything else, the next thing he knew, his portion of the ship took on heavy damage, the force of which flung Tony spiraling into one of the steel walls of his ship, knocking him unconscious.

Tony's eyes fluttered a bit, the first thing he noticed was the sharp pain from the back of his skull. He staggered to his feet, realizing that all the lights in his pod were dark. He moved slowly towards the front of the pod, which had a small set of controls to pilot it. He sat down in hopes that he could understand how to fly it, but it was no use. The entire control panel was powerless, just like the lights. Hope drained from his soul as he frantically explored the ship's controls and wiring, hoping against hope that he could restore power. Several hours went by, but no amount of intellect or will was solving the problems that he faced.

"I invented nano tech and built an armored suit in a cave, but I can't figure out how to power this hunk of junk," he sighed, sitting down on the pod's cold floor. "Come on Tony... how do I get out of this. How do I get home?"

*Avengers Facility, Upstate New York*

Thor and Loki walked around the facility, now wearing civilian clothes. They remained quiet for a while, with the latter seeming skittish around his brother.

"Am I still the worst?" Loki asked sheepishly. Thor ignored the comment, continuing to sulk as they walked. "Thor..."

"How did you do it?" Thor asked. "I... I clutched your body while our ship broke apart..."

"I left when half of our people left," Loki replied. "I projected my image onto another, and I controlled him from a small pod close by. I... I knew that Thanos would get the stone. I thought with my trickery, I would be able to provide at least some leverage."

"Leverage to escape without being harmed?" Thor challenged. "Or was it leverage to get another innocent killed, after you used him to go after Thanos. Or maybe, leverage to finally get the earth you've always wanted to rule, now that it's been decimated."

"I was trying to help you!" Loki yelled, the burst of emotion caught Thor by surprise. "I thought if I could distract them, if I could get here in time..." Loki was unable to continue, as he was blindsided by emotion. Tears flowed down and pain was written on his face. Finally, as the emotion passed, he looked at Thor with weeping eyes. "I thought this was my redemption."

"Brother..."

"I am not worthy to be called that," Loki replied.

"Family isn't like Mjolnir," Thor challenged. "You weren't worthy to lift the hammer, but you were chosen to be an Odinson. You don't get too choose whether you are worthy or not, father chose you to be his son. Because of that, you will always be my brother." He paused for a moment as he too had a tear in his eye, emotion gripping the god of thunder. "I don't know why I must keep saying this to you... but you have, and always been my brother. There is nothing you can do to change that. And while I don't like that you have deceived me once more, I'd rather you be alive and deceptive than dead."

"Thanks?" Loki replied shakily. "Look... about the other Asgardians, we need to find a ship and get out of here."

"What good will that do, Loki?" Thor asked. "We don't even know where Thanos is, yet. We must give it time."

"That's all fine and good, but when we do find them, there is someone else we search for," Loki replied.

"Who?" Thor asked.

"I don't know their name," Loki started. "But when I fell from the rainbow bridge in Asgard, and travelled throughout space, I heard of a warrior from the kree."

"I know of the Kree," Thor replied.

"Yes, but this one was different," Loki replied. "She's part human, and once lived on this planet. Rumor has it that she is one of the most powerful beings on the planet."

"Any idea how to find her?" Thor asked.

"Not exactly... all who told me about her said they hadn't heard or seen from this warrior for years."

"Unless she shows up on our doorstep, we probably should think of other ideas than to hope that we can find a half-kree, half-human super soldier to help us with our problems." Thor's tone discouraged Loki, who furrowed his brow.

"Do you have any better ideas, brother?" Loki scoffed.

"I don't, brother. I don't."

*Mojave Desert, CA*

Tommy and Steve flew straight away to the old sight of the power chamber, making it in record time across the country. They landed the quinjet down about a mile from the location, and then they hiked from there to make it to the site. As they drew near, they saw the ruins of the old headquarters.

"Is this it?" Steve asked, pointing to the building.

"Yeah, that's it," Tommy replied. He had been back a number of times to learn about the morphing grid, how he could connect the dino gems to it, and how to utilize other powers along with it. But regardless of how frequently he had seen his old base of operations, he continued to be surprising mournful over what had become of it.

As they continued to walk towards the dilapidated building, Steve asked, "What happened here?"

"After I left the rangers, an evil space pirate named Divatox destroyed it. I couldn't believe it when T.J. told me about it." They arrived at the base of the building, and started looking for the entrance. "This place always felt indestructible. Even when other enemies tried to destroy it, Zordon always found a way to safeguard it."

"Zordon?" Steve asked.

"He was our mentor, our leader..." Tommy began to choke up, thinking back on when Andros killed Zordon to save the world.

"And a lot more?" Tommy nodded at Steve's question. "This was like home for you, wasn't it?"

"Yeah... seems kind of silly, now that you mention it."

"Doesn't seem silly at all," Steve replied. "Sometimes, fighting for what you believe in is exactly what home is." Tommy nodded and wiped away his tears, and then moved over towards a part of the building, and he started groping the side of it.

"There should be a secret control panel that we can use to enter the building. If I can just... there it is!" After Tommy found it and pushed in a code, a door appeared that allowed them entrance into the building. They wandered around the main command center for a few moments, with Tommy checking a few obvious spaces in the room before moving on.

"Anything?" Steve asked.

"No," Tommy replied. "I figured there wouldn't be anything, but I wanted to check first. There's a storage space below this, the crystal might be in there."

"Lead the way." The pair made their way down below, and there they spent what felt like hours rummaging through all of the miscellaneous things, from old plans to the power chamber, to the old mighty morphin suits that once occupied the glass chambers in the back of the command center. Tommy began to grow concerned that they would never find the crystal, or that by the time they found it that it would be too late.

"I'm starting to wonder if the crystal is buried beneath the ruins of the building," Tommy said aloud. "Or if it's even here."

"Would one of your old teammates know?" Steve asked, pausing his rummaging.

"Even if they do, I haven't gotten a hold of them, and they haven't called me back," Tommy replied. "Let's go outside, police the grounds." They returned outside, where the sun was beginning to set.

"Well, we only have an hour or so of daylight left, we better make it count," Steve replied as they started to wander around the exterior of the power chamber. They searched for about a half hour, but it became increasingly clear that they had too much ground to cover between the two of them.

"I'm starting to wonder if it's worth us being out here," Tommy sighed. Around that time, Steve looked out on the horizon below and saw a large, black SUV headed straight for them.

"Tommy, I think we have company," he said. "Any hostiles that would know about this base?"

"None that I would think of as current threats," Tommy replied. This put Steve somewhat at ease, but he still felt uneasy about the vehicle approaching. It stopped fifteen feet or so from them, and the lights and ignition were turned off immediately. All four doors opened, and for a second Tommy and Steve tensed up. But Tommy was relieved when he saw who exited the vehicle.

"I didn't realize that Captain America was a former power ranger," Rocky joked as he slammed his door shut. "Did you, Adam?"

"Never knew," Adam replied in a jovial manner, shutting his driver-side door. "Of course, Tommy didn't tell me he was stealing my color either."

"You guys have no clue how happy I am to see you," Tommy ran to embrace his brothers-in-arms. "You got my message?"

"We did," an Australian voice softly rang behind them. Rocky and Adam parted to reveal Kat and Tanya.

"Hi Katherine," he replied, pausing for a moment. The awkward greeting wasn't lost on the other former rangers. "Tanya. It's good to see you both."

"It's good to see you too, Tommy," Tanya replied. "We just wish it was under better circumstances."

"Me too," Tommy replied. He turned to Steve, who waited behind him. "This is Steve Rogers, or as Rocky pointed out, Captain America. Steve, this is Adam Park, Rocky DeSantos, Tanya Sloan, and Katherine Hillard. The zeo rangers."

"Thank you for coming on short notice," Steve added. "If you haven't noticed, we have a bit of a crisis on our hands."

"I'd say," Adam replied. "It's not everyday that a bunch of folks you work with just suddenly disintergrate."

"Did this have to do with that alien attack in New York?" Tanya asked.

"It had everything to do with it," Steve replied. "I can explain more in the jet, but first we need to know something. Do you know where the zeo crystal is?"

"We think the crystal could be the key to getting the world's population back," Tommy explained. "But we've looked around here for hours, and haven't come close to finding it."

"That makes sense, since I had it locked up in storage," Adam replied nonchalantly. The comment left Steve and Tommy speechless. "When my powers got restored for our fight against Thrax, it made me realize there were a lot of things left in the power chamber that needed to be secured, so I placed the zeo crystal in a warehouse downtown with a lot of other stuff."

"We picked it up on our way from Stone Canyon," Rocky added.

"So... did you say you have a jet?" Tanya asked.

"We do," Steve replied. "How would you like to help us save the universe?"

"Avengers and Power Rangers team up?" Rocky asked excitedly. "Count me in!"

"We're ready to come and fight," Adam affirmed.

"In that case, let's get going," Steve commanded. "Unless we need anything else?"

"Nope, as long as you have your zeo shards, we should be good to go," Tommy replied. His gaze, however, didn't leave Katherine. He could tell she felt uneasy, but he didn't know why.

"Adam, can you drive us down to our quinjet?" Steve asked, interrupting Tommy's thoughts.

"Sure thing, just tell me where to go."

 _ **To Be Continued...**_

 _ **Thanks for reading, don't forget to review!**_

 _ **\- Googz333**_


	5. Chapter 5

**Death Was Arrested - Chapter 5**

*177a Bleecker Street, New York, NY*

Banner and Kim arrived at New York Sanctum, but it took much longer than they expected. Unlike the airways, traffic on the ground was still immensely impacted by the decimation. Abandoned automobiles were strewn among the streets, and law enforcement and transportation services must have been so hindered by the loss of personnel that there was barely any effort to help move things along. Add to that the chaos of worried and scared survivors who didn't know what to do, and you have long delays.

"I hope Wong is here," Bruce sighed. "It'd be sad if we travelled through all that mess for nothing."

"Someone will be here," Kim added, placing her hand on Bruce's shoulder. They knocked forcefully, but nothing happened. There were no footsteps approaching the door, only silence. Kim felt agitated, and began to knock at a quicker pace, when all of a sudden she went to knock and there was no door to strike. "What the..."

They were no longer outside in front of the sanctum, but now inside a beautiful looking lobby with an ascending staircase to an upper level, as well as a number of corridors leading to other rooms in the building. However, on the staircase, there was a massive hole in the middle of it.

"What the heck happened there?" Kim asked, pointing to it.

"I sorta happened," Bruce replied sheepishly. Kim's mouth hung open in shock. "I didn't mention that I was the hulk before, did I?"

"You know, that would have been good to know before we left," Kim replied. "That explains all the breathing exercises while we were stuck in traffic."

"I see you returned, Dr. Banner," a voice said from above them. They turned to find a larger asian man, one whom Bruce was very happy to see.

"Wong, am I glad to see you," Banner shouted up to him. "I was afraid that you might be gone."

"I have neither left the sanctum, nor perished," Wong replied. "Have you heard from Stephen?"

"I have, sort of," Kim interjected. Wong descended the broken staircase to be closer to them, and he gazed at Kimberly with a knowing look.

"When did you see him?" Wong asked.

"Twelve years ago," she replied. The response prompted a grimace from the wizard. "Look, I swear..."

"I don't doubt you Miss Hart," Wong replied.

"How do you know my name?"

"I'm a master of the Mystic Arts, it's my responsibility to know who comes to our doorsteps," he replied matter-of-factly. "I am concerned that, if Stephen Strange arrived in your past to discuss our present, it's very possible that he is dead."

"What makes you say that?" Bruce asked.

"He may have used the time stone to determine the best way to defeat Thanos," Wong explained.

"I'm pretty sure that's exactly what he did," Kim replied. "He said I and another were the best hope of stopping him."

"Then I'm confident that Stephen is dead. If he told you then, it means that while he can see beyond in the lives of others, he did not see his own fate beyond a certain point. If he would have survived, he would have come to you when he returned, not in an astral projection."

"Ok, Strange is dead, but what about Tony and Peter Parker?" Banner asked.

"I do not know," Wong replied. "However, if Strange is dead, I don't know how the others could have survived as well."

"Look Wong, fifty percent of the universe has been wiped out," Banner reasoned. "If Tony is alive, we need to find him and bring him home. I know you can teleport to different locations throughout the multiverse, is there anyway you can get us to him."

"I cannot help you," Wong replied. "Even if I could get to them, I have no way of knowing where they are throughout the universe. And my responsibility is here. Even Stephen really is dead, then the Sanctum remains unguarded."

"What good is the Sanctum if everybody else is dead?!" Banner started to shout, but Kim grasped hold of his shoulder for a minute.

"Calm down, I don't exactly want to see the hulk come out and terrorize us right now," Kim whispered. Bruce took a few deep breaths, while Kim returned her gaze to Wong.

"Wong, I know you have a giant responsibility here," Kim empathized. "But your friend and fellow wizard came to me, saying I needed to find Steve Rogers and Tony Stark, to help them defeat Thanos. If he came to you with the same plea, would you go to whatever lengths it took to find them? Or would you play it safe and keep going on with your normal life?" Wong pondered her request with a furrowed brow, but after a moment he looked back at the pair.

"I do not know how I can help," Wong replied. At first, this produced exasperated responses, but Wong continued. "But, I will accompany you to wherever you are going. If we can find a location, I may be able to bring him here."

"I have an idea," Bruce replied. "But we'll need to go back to the Avengers base."

"Oh great, another twelve hours in the car," Kim sighed.

"I believe I can assist here," Wong smiled, as he took out his sling ring. He circled his two fingers in the air, and an orange spark appeared in front of them, creating a sort of doorway that led to their base. "I believe this will cut the travel time to twelve seconds."

"Whoa, that's so cool," Kim gasped. The trio made their way into the main room, much to the shock of Rhodes and Romanoff.

"What the hell?" Rhodes asked quizzically. "How..."

"This is Wong," Banner explained. "He's one of the wizards we were talking about."

"First a talking raccoon, now wizards," Rhodes sighed.

"You have a raccoon that talks?" Wong asked, which brought a much needed chuckle from the others.

"Apparently he's a cybernetically enhanced lifeform, created on another planet," Natasha commented. "He's been talking about how outdated our systems are. He's got quite a mouth on him."

"Any progress from him or Thor?" Banner asked.

"Nothing yet," Natasha replied. "Honestly, we haven't seen Thor or Loki for a while since they went on their little stroll."

"Loki is here?" Wong asked, his voice laced with concern. "As in the Loki that destroyed half of New York?" She nodded her head. "Why are you working with him? He's on our watch list for most dangerous threats to our world."

"He's on ours too," Natasha replied. "But right now, he might be able to help us save the world, and we're running a little low on available fighters."

"It's a good thing that the cavalry came," a voice said from the far side of the room, accompanied by a number of loud footsteps.

"Rocky?" Kim asked, recognizing his voice. The zeo rangers and Steve entered the room with the zeo crystal in tow.

"Kim, is that you?" He asked. He ran over and gave her a hug, followed by Adam. "Tommy said you were here, man are we glad to see you."

"It goes both ways, Rocko," Kim replied. "Adam it's good to see you."

"It's been a long time, Kimberly," Adam smiled. Tanya and Katherine approached her, with Tanya offering a warm hug, but Katherine giving a brief, if not icy, embrace.

"So, this is it?" Adam asked. "The home base of the Avengers."

"That it is," Steve replied. "This is Natasha, Colonel Jim Rhodes, Dr. Bruce Banner, and..."

"Wong," Banner jumped in, introducing the Master of the Mystic Arts. "We're hoping he can help us get to Tony."

"Could you use the same magic that you used to bring us here?" Kim asked suddenly. "You were able to transport us from one end of New York to the other in a hot second. Couldn't you do the same with Tony?"

"Potentially, but we would have to find him first," Wong pondered. "Even then, I'm not sure my magic would be able to reach him, depending on where he is. If he's on this planet, or in this universe, then maybe. But if not, it may be impossible for us to get him."

"I think I might have a way to lock on to his location," Rhodes replied. "Wong, come with me. I'm gonna introduce you to our talking raccoon." They stepped out of the room, but before anyone could say anything else, Clint came barging in.

"You guys got here just in time, we have a problem," Clint replied.

"What happened?" Steve asked.

"Take a look for yourself, Cap." Clint turned on a video screen in the room, and the group turned their attention there to find that a sizable group were marching in downtown Manhattan terrorizing many of the remaining citizens. At the front of the group was a man that Steve remembered all too well.

"Zemo..." he muttered.

"Zemo?" Rocky asked. "What's a Zemo?"

"Helmut Zemo was the one who bombed a U.N. Summit in hopes of pinning it on Bucky Barnes," Steve started to explained. "He..." Before he could continue, the memory of Barnes disintegrating popped back into his mind, and he had to stop for a moment. "His whole agenda was to destroy the Avengers from the inside out."

"You could make an argument that it's Zemo's fault Thanos won," Natasha scowled.

"No... that was on us," Steve replied. "Look, we need to get out there and help rescue those people. Tommy, this isn't the mission we talked about, but is your team ready to go?"

"The zeo crystal should give us enough juice for now," Tommy replied.

"All right, then let's get ready," Steve replied. "Clint, Natasha, fire up the quinjet."

"What about me?" Kim asked. "My powers aren't tied to the zeo crystal, and while I might have enough power in my old power coin..."

"I'd wait it out here, help quarterback us from here," Tommy replied. The response saddened Kimberly, but Tommy placed his hand on her shoulder. "Hey, I know you want to be out there with us. But let's make sure your powers have stability before we send you out there."

"All right, let's meet up at the jet," Steve replied. They all left the room, save for Banner, Kim, and Tommy.

"I'm going to check on Wong and them, and then I'll be back to help you figure out all the tech on our end," Banner replied, leaving the two alone.

"Well... here we are, saving the world again," Kim replied. "Guess for you this is a semi-regular occurance, huh?"

"Somewhat," Tommy shrugged. "But the stakes have never been so high."

"Tommy..." Kim muttered as she began to chew on her bottom lip.

"What is it?" Tommy asked. Kim hesitated, before finally speaking up.

"May the power protect you." She stood on her toes and gave Tommy a kiss on his cheek. While innocent enough, the gesture was enough to force Tommy's heart to race.

"Thanks," he whispered, leaving her alone. The zeo rangers, Clint, Natasha, and Steve got into the quinjet and left for Manhattan, with more than a couple of people eyeing up Tommy for his slight delay to the jet.

"So... are you and Kim back together?" Rocky bluntly asked.

"What?" Tommy choked out. "No, I just... she found me after the others got wiped away."

"Oh," Rocky responded.

"I've lost track of what day it is, or when we got in touch, whether it was today, yesterday, three days ago... but whenever it was, it was the first time I saw Kimberly since Muiranthias."

"Not in your mind..." Kat muttered under her breath, just loud enough for a few of the others to hear.

"Kat?" Adam asked curiously. She blushed, presumably because she didn't intend to be heard, and then quietly excused herself and went to another part of the jet. "Tanya, is everything ok with Kat?"

"Honestly, I'm not sure," Tanya replied. "Don't take this the wrong way Tommy, but I don't think she's exactly thrilled to be around you again after everything that happened between the two of you."

"Well... I don't exactly blame her for that," Tommy confessed.

"What the heck are you guys talking about?" Rocky asked.

"When Katherine left for London, I proposed," Tommy explained.

"What?" Adam asked. "Why didn't we ever know this?"

"Because it was short lived," Tanya interjected. "And, similarly to when Kim dumped Tommy, he in turn didn't give much explanation as to why he broke off the engagement. At least, that's what I've gathered from Katherine."

"She deserved better," Tommy confessed.

"You're damn right she did," Tanya affirmed.

"What happened?" Rocky asked. Tommy hesitated for a moment, but realized that, aside from Kimberly and Jason, and Hayley of course, he trusted this group of people more than anyone else.

"I had a mental breakdown when I went off to college," Tommy replied. The admission stunned his fellow teammates. "I was hospitalized for a few days, was close to withdrawing from school altogether. I... I didn't do well with the loss of being a power ranger. That was in addition to finding out I had a brother, finding out my long-term girlfriend was cheating on me, and transitioning from high school to college, I sank into a deep depression. I... part of me dated Kat as a coping mechanism. I truly liked her, and I enjoyed her company, but I was using her to escape the pain of that whole year. I broke up with her over the phone, and didn't reach out again for about a year."

"Why didn't you tell any of us?" Adam asked.

"Because I was afraid," Tommy shared honestly. "Leader of the power rangers, undone by his own emotions. All I felt was shame and failure."

"Come on man, we wouldn't have judged..."

"I know, Rocko," Tommy cut him off. "It wasn't about you guys, it was about me. It helped that I met Hayley, who helped me through it. But she didn't know me from before. Sometimes, it's easier to share your junk with a complete stranger."

"I'm sorry that you went through that," Tanya replied.

"What happened to Hayley?" Adam asked.

"She was wiped away," Tommy replied somberly. Before the rest of the rangers could respond, Steve entered from the cockpit into the room they were occupying.

"We're three minutes out, are you guys ready?" Steve asked.

"We will be," Tommy replied, glancing at his fellow rangers. "Tanya, can you get Katherine?"

"Will do," she replied.

The jet landed on top of the old Avengers tower, and within seconds the hatch lowered to allow the heroes out on the roof. The rangers were morphed, Clint was in his new garb, which came with katanas rather than his patented bow and arrow, and Nat and Steve were dressed in their garb from their time on the run, with Steve sporting the vibranium arm shields that were gifted to him by the late T'Challa.

"Listen up," Steve called out. "Our mission is simple, contain and neutralize the threat, and protect the remaining citizens. Their leader is named Helmut Zemo, who you saw on the screen back at the base. Be careful, he's crafty and deceptive. But, I wouldn't be surprised if we get to him, the mob will die down. Detain him and bring him in. Understood?"

"We got it," Tommy replied. The eight of them rushed down the building and exited to the street level, and ran a few blocks to get to where all the commotion was. The streets were congested with cars and bodies, storefront windows were broken into, and gunfire was sprayed freely in the air and into the crowds. There were dozens of henchmen that were gathered around, shouting and intimidating others around them. It was then that Captain America made his move, climbing on top of one of the abandoned automobiles.

"That's enough!" He yelled into the air, halting the assault for a moment. "We've all sustained heavy losses recently. You can either return to your homes, and leave Zemo to us, or you can join him in defeat." Suddenly, Zemo appeared, making his way to the front of mob.

"Captain America," he cackled. "You look like someone who has lost much... maybe now you know what it's like to lose like I have."

"More than you can imagine," he challenged. "But that gives you no right to come and suppress innocent people here."

"And the Avengers had no right to kill the innocents in Sokovia! But now, you will feel defeat, good captain." Zemo turned to a couple of his comrades, and then returned his gaze to Steve. "Kill him." With the simple command, gunfire rained down on him. He quickly ducked behind a car to shield himself, the other heroes quickly following suit.

"This is one of those times I wish I hadn't traded in my bow and arrow for a sword," Clint joked.

"We've got this," Tommy replied. "Rangers, zeo blasters on lower settings." The five pulled the weapons from their holsters, and then quickly moved from their makeshift barricades to fire on their assailants. They very quickly mowed them down, stunning them in their tracks. When the mob had thinned out enough, Tommy shouted to the other avengers. "Now!"

The simple command prompted the three of them to move towards their enemies, taking them on in bunches. The rangers joined them, leaving their protective positions to help Cap and the others. They pulled their power weapons, and quickly dispatched of their foes. After a few moments, Steve saw Zemo trying to escape. "Zemo's on the run, I'm on him," he communicated, running after him at a breakneck pace.

As the rangers continued to fight off the remaining attackers, Katherine stopped and gazed at Tommy as he fought. It was then they heard a communication in their helmets, and it was Kimberly's voice.

"Sorry it took me so long to get on coms here, guys," she replied. "You guys are doing great, just keep closing in on them."

"Glad we have your approval," Katherine mocked, anger apparent in her voice. Kim's voice went silent over the radio, and no one spoke for what seemed like an eternity. However, Tanya replied quickly.

"Kat, you cool?" She asked.

"I'm fin..." she started, but as she was distracted, she was shot down by four different attackers. She was sprawled out on the ground, her armor fading from her body.

"Kat!" Kim yelled over the radio, alerting the other rangers to her imminent danger. One of the henchmen stood over her body, aiming his weapon to give the death blow, when a shadowy figure careened over him, grabbing and throwing him over his shoulder. Kat looked over, and was alarmed to find Clint brutally killing the four of them, running his sword through them without a second thought. The last one dropped to the ground, but Clint couldn't stop plunging his sword into the lifeless carcass. Faster and faster he thrust until...

"Clint!" Natasha shouted at him, awakening him from his bloodlust. He stopped and gazed into his friends concerned eyes, and then looked back at the unmorphed pink ranger, who couldn't believe what she had just witnessed.

"I'm sorry... I just..." Natasha interrupted the apology by giving him a long, uncharacteristic embrace.

"You don't need to apologize," she replied. "We're clear here," she communicated through their coms. "Anything we're missing?"

"Seems like all the bad guys are down," Kim replied over the radio. "Is Kat okay?" Kat scowled at her predecesor's concern. Natasha knelt down beside her to check her out, but all she saw were a couple of slight scrapes and bruises from the impact of the ground after she had unmorphed.

"Let me see your eyes," Natasha said to her, and she complied. "No signs of concussion, no bullet wounds, I'd say you'll be fine... as long as you can stay focused out here."

"I'll be fine," Katherine bristled.

"Look, as much as we need your help, if you're going to be a liability..."

"Who the hell are you to judge me," Kat challenged, rising to her feet. "I can hold my own..." Before she could continue, Steve spoke over their com units.

"I've got Zemo," Steve added.

"Hey guys," Kim replied over the radio. "You've got a lot of activity coming your way, looks like local law-enforcement."

"We need to get out of here, just in case if we're still on Ross' most wanted list," Natasha added.

"Let's meet up back at the jet," Steve commanded. The other rangers surrounded Clint, Natasha, and Katherine still morphed, agast at the carnage that Barton had left.

"Whoa, what happened here?" Rocky asked. "I thought we were trying to keep them alive..."

"Long story," Natasha replied, looking over towards Clint. "We can talk later, you guys heard Cap, we need to get to the jet."

"Kat, you better morph back, just to keep your identity safe," Adam suggested.

"Good idea," she agreed. "Zeo ranger one, Pink." With the command, she transformed, and followed the rest of the group back so they could fly back to base.

 _ **To be Continued...**_

 _ **Thanks for Reading, don't forget to review!**_

 _ **\- Googz333**_


	6. Chapter 6

**Death Was Arrested - Chapter 6**

Back on the jet, the rangers powered down while Natasha and Clint piloted the jet back to their headquarters. The rangers were together talking, minus Katherine, who again isolated herself. Steve noticed her avoiding the group, and was made aware of her near miss. He went and sat down by her, which only brought out a small grunt out of the tall blonde.

"When Tommy shared about the zeo team, he mentioned that you were sweet and gentle in your demeanor," Steve started. "Seems like he was wrong."

"Tell me, Captain, how would you like to get a voicemail from your ex, who you haven't heard from in nearly a decade, calling you for a mission to save the world hours after watching the one person who's been the rock in your life fade from existence?" Kat asked, a tear threatening to fall from her eye.

"Who did you lose?" Steve asked. She paused for a moment, he suspected because she was deciding whether she trusted him or not.

"Danny... my Danny." A few more tears fell. "He's... he was my older brother. When I moved back from London, I was a couple hours from Tanya and the others. Danny moved his medical practice to be close to me. He was there when Tommy..."

"When I broke up with you," Tommy interjected, who had come into the room. "Sorry to interrupt, but Clint wanted me to tell you that we're close to landing."

"Thanks Tommy," Steve replied, and then looked back at Katherine. "I'm glad you're with us," he replied, giving her a knowing look. "If we're going to get Danny back, we'll need your help." He placed his hand on her shoulder briefly and gave it a gentle squeeze before standing up and leaving her and Tommy. "Take a few minutes to talk things out, and meet us back in the facility."

"What about Zemo?" Tommy asked.

"I'll lock him back up in a cell, and figure out what exactly he was thinking starting that riot," Steve replied, walking out of the jet and grabbing Zemo, who was unconscious and tied up in restraints. A few moments went by without either talking to each other. Finally, Tommy made the first step.

"I'm sorry about how I treated you." Tommy was struggling to not be overcome with emotion. "You deserved better, and you deserved an explanation, and I gave you neither." He paused, waiting for Kat to engage with him, but she continued to stare at the floor. "In all of what I was going through, I never once stopped and considered how it was affecting you. It was selfish of me." Kat remained silent, struggling to look Tommy in the eye.

"If you think an apology can undo what happened..." Kat started.

"I don't," Tommy replied. "I know that you've had to bear the weight of my choices."

"You don't know anything," Kat countered, anger rising in her voice.

"I know that you saw your brother die right in front of you, and while Hayley wasn't my flesh and blood sister..."

"She your girlfriend?"

Tommy sighed at the angry question. "What is it with everyone thinking she's my girlfriend?" He ran his hand through his short hair, pondering what to say.

"Look..." Katherine started, calming herself down before she shared her next thought. "I came because you said there was a way to get the ones we lost back. I'm here. I want to help. I want Danny back. And whoever Hayley is to you..."

"My friend," Tommy replied.

"Ok... your friend, Hayley, Jason and the other rangers, and the rest of the population we lost, I'm here for them. But don't expect me to just saddle up and pretend like things are back to the way they were. I've carried too much pain in my heart for too long to do it. And seeing you with Kimberly does nothing to help it."

"Look, this is the first time Kim and I have seen each other for nearly 12 years," Tommy defended. The statement drew a soft chuckle from the blonde.

"You never were very aware about your own emotions, were you," Kat replied. With that she stood up and walked away, but not before stopping before exiting the jet. "I loved you, Tommy. With all my heart. I will do all I can to keep my emotions in check, to help the team accomplish what we need to do. But you need to know that it won't be easy for me."

"I understand," Tommy nodded. "All I want is for you to be clear-headed when we go into battle. I don't want you dying out there." Kat merely nodded, and then stormed out, leaving Tommy to do nothing but sigh.

Clint and Natasha were walking through the corridors of the Avengers facility, walking towards the armory to put away their weapons. Their hadn't been a lot of conversation on the ride back from their battle with Zemo, but Natasha finally broke the silence. "When did you become so proficient with a katana?" She blurted out.

"We didn't talk on the whole ride back, and that's the question you ask?" Clint replied.

"Look, I get you're angry about your family dying, but the whole new look, different fighting style..."

"I was fighting as Ronin a few months after Germany," Clint confessed. "Only a few side missions, contracted out with only two requirements. They can't know my identity, and the pay was good."

"Why? Didn't you want to remain with your family?" Natasha asked.

"Needed to pay the bills," he shrugged. "Though, the few missions I went on, they were a bit more compromising than I wanted. I had to change, I became more aggressive, changed my fighting style. It served me well in the new assignments, as well as concealing my identity. But that combined with seeing my family fade away... well let's just say it's become a lot easier to lose control."

"No offense Clint, but I miss Hawkeye." Natasha continued to put the weapons away, and then left Clint alone to let him ponder her firm statement.

A few days had passed in the Avengers facility, and morale was starting to fade. Rocket had little success in tracking Thanos or Tony, Thor and Loki spent more time arguing over the latter's trickery rather than finding solutions, and while Katherine's mood had improved, it was still clear she detested her pink predecesor.

Natasha and Steve sat alone in the lounge area of the facility taking a breather after spending all day with the others trying to find any leads that could bring them to Thanos. Invisiportals, nanotechnology, magic from a wizard, and none of it was getting anywhere. Steve let out a large sigh.

"You okay?" Natasha asked.

"I miss the good ol days," Steve replied. "Back before Erskine injected me with the super soldier serum, I wanted to fight in a normal war. No cosmic powers, no aliens, just a bully that I could see right in front of me. But this... my head is spinning after all of the options we explored." He stopped for a moment and finally looked up at Nat. "I can't fight a war if we can't find the bully."

"You talking about Thanos?" Natasha asked. "Or Tony?"

"Tony's not a bully," Steve replied. "I'd take him back in a heartbeat. I just hope he feels the same way... if we find him."

"We'll find a way," Natasha comforted him. "We always do." It was at that moment that a video transmission came up on the monitor, and after it was cued up and they saw the screen, they were shocked by what they saw.

"Is this an old message?" Steve asked.

"It's the front door," Natasha replied. They saw on the screen Scott Lang, who was standing in front of an old, brown van.

"Hi! Uh, is anyone home? This is Scott Lang. We met a few years ago, at the airport, in Germany? I got really big. Ant-Man? Ant-M - I know you know wh - I know you know that! That's me. Can you buzz me in?" Scott waited for a moment outside, wondering if anyone was there to receive him. "Maybe I didn't travel back far enough," he sighed. Suddenly, doors opened and revealed the pair who watched him on the monitor. "It's good to see you Captain, I wasn't sure if you'd reco..." Before Scott could finish his awkward introduction, Steve enveloped him in a massive hug, taking the wind out of him for a moment before he put him down.

"Are we ever glad to see you," Steve replied. "We thought you were dead."

"That's what Stark said," Scott replied. The statement startled the pair.

"You've seen Tony?" Natasha questioned, at which Lang grimaced.

"Well... sort of. We should go inside, it's kind of a long story."

"Let me assemble the team," Steve replied. After a few moments, the remaining Avengers and Power Rangers walked into the main lounge area, and after a round of introductions, and one more crack about the talking raccoon, Scott explained his journey into the quantum realm, how he traveled five years into the future and met with Tony, and how the earth was under siege by red skull and his new army of outriders. He revealed that they were all dead, minus Stark and his daughter.

"So... were we all dead?" Kim asked. "Including the power rangers?"

"Honestly, I don't know," Scott replied. "Tony didn't mention anything about the rangers, and he did mention that Thor went to outer space to get help, and never returned. Other than that, he told me that he reconciled with Cap in the end, but it was too late."

"This is good news," Rhodes replied.

"I'm not sure how you could possibly think this good news," Rocket quipped. "What exactly about 'we all die' except for the pirate angel, who's merely lost in space, sounds good to you!?"

"The fact that Scott saw Tony five years from now means he's alive," Rhodes countered. "It's possible that the future is all ready changing, because there's no word about the power rangers, and Scott is here, talking with us."

"That's all good, except we still can't find him," Banner sighed. "We've been trying everything we can to get some sort of location on him, and we're no closer to finding him than we were when we started."

"I might be able to help with that," Scott replied excitedly. "You see, I didn't come back from the future empty-handed. You see, Stark gave me some tech he was working on, some of which was for finding Thanos and controlling the powers of the infinity rocks, or whatever you guys called them. I've got them in my truck."

"Do any of them have nanotech on them?" Banner asked, his voice brimming with hope.

"I... don't really know what that means, but..."

"Tony's latest model suit was made by millions of tiny robots called nanotechnology, completely state-of-the-art," Bruce explained. "Depending on the tech that Tony gave you, he might have given us a way to locate him by taking the signal from his tech and searching for it."

"Buddy, we all ready tried that with soldier boy over here," Rocket sighed, pointing over to Rhodes.

"Look, we know that something has to work, right?" Tommy replied, a bit exasperated by Rocket's demeanor. "Then let's try it."

"Bruce, work with Scott and find that signal," Steve commanded. They nodded, and the work and research crew got to work.

"Thor, you and Loki need to stay here for the time being," Steve replied. "If you go out there now..."

"It's possible that we can find more troops, especially for the incoming battle with this Skull-man..."

"Red Skull," Steve corrected Thor.

"We can find help," Thor finished.

"Didn't you just hear what Scott said?" Steve asked. "We can't lose you right now."

"He's right," Kim added. "Look, at this point, if an army comes down from on high, we need our heaviest hitters here. The zeo rangers powers are limited until we find a way to wire the zeo crystal to a more stable power transmitter, and our man resources here are pitifully few."

"Fine," Thor replied. "But we leave the moment we find a way to find and kill Thanos."

"Understood," Steve acquiesed.

 _ **To Be Continued...**_

 _ **Thanks For Reading, feel free to leave a review!**_

 _ **\- Googz333**_


	7. Chapter 7

**_Author's Note:_** ** _I really wanted to finish this story before endgame came out, but it's looking more and more like that won't happen. I'm still working on it, but I'm it's going to take me a little longer than I thought to write and edit it. Thanks for your patience._**

 **Death Was Arrested - Chapter 7**

*Deep Space*

Tony was sitting on the cold, hard floor of his pod. He had tried everything to get it started again, to no avail. He had found a change of clothes, potentially some of Quill's old clothes from when the Guardians traveled with Nebula at one point. He had lost count of the days, even weeks or months that he had been lost in space, and he had lost hope of rescue days ago.

He had used the remaining power of his nanotech unit to have it form a helmet, and placed it on the ground. He stared at it for a moment, before pushing a button on the underside of the helmet, a small light came on, signaling that it was recording.

"This thing on?" Tony asked aloud. "Hey Ms. Potts. If you find this recording, don't feel bad about this. Part of the journey is the end. Just for the record, being adrift in space with zero promise of rescue is more fun than it sounds. Food and water ran out four days ago. Oxygen will run out tomorrow morning. And that'll be it. When I drift off, I will dream about you. It's always you."

He reached out to turn off the device, ending the recording. He continued to sit on the floor, bringing his hand to his face to rub his forehead. After a moment, he slowly moved so that he could stand. He stumbled a bit, but finally stabilized himself on one of the consoles behind him, and then sluggishly walked towards the window of the pod, allowing him to see beautiful expanse of space.

"If I gotta go out, at least it's with a view," he sighed. He stood there for what felt like hours, admiring the beauty of the stars, while also trembling at the knowledge that this was where he would die. A quick beeping noise startled Tony, and he looked over to the side console where the controls of the ship were. He rushed over and punched a few of the buttons, but there was no response. Another beep, and Tony stumbled around trying to find it. Finally he looked back over to the helmet that he had recorded his message on. He walked and knelt down to see a flashing light. He looked at it curiously, before he heard something else. A brilliant circle of orange light that opened a doorway into the pod appeared.

"I... am I hallucinating?" He asked himself. "I... this can't..." Before he could finish, Rhodes stepped through the magical doorway.

"We found you," Rhodes smiled. Tony, overcome with emotion embraced his friend.

"You're alive..." Tony replied. "I... I wasn't certain who survived."

"We'll talk about it more at HQ, we're waiting for you." They gingerly walked back through the doorway, entering a white room that had Wong, Banner, and Rocket in it. Bruce ran to his old friend and hugged him while Rhodes kept his arm around him to support his tired body. They broke apart, and Rhodey guided him to a chair to sit in.

"I'm so glad we found you," Bruce replied. "Where's Strange, Spider-Man?"

"They didn't make it," Tony replied sullenly. Wong merely grunted, while Banner and Rhodey sighed. Tony turned his sights to Rocket and smiled. "You must be Rocket."

"How would you know me?" The raccoon asked.

"I ran into your crew on Titan, that's where we fought Thanos," he replied. "They mentioned that you had gone with Thor... you and a tree looking thing named Groot?"

"You found Quill?" Rocket asked, a sense of joy evident in his voice for a moment, before he realized that Tony was alone. "Where is he?" Tony looked sadly into Rocket's eyes.

"I'm sorry," he could barely choke out. "He, along with the rest of your crew, disintegrated. Nebula was the only one left, and we got separated due to an attack on her ship." The news visibly affected Rocket, as he turned and audibly growled. After a few seconds, he made his way to a corner and began to weep sorrowfully, body-wracking sobs that caught Banner and Rhodes by surprise. Tony however walked over to him and knelt down beside him and placed his hand on his shoulder.

They sat there for a while, before Tony finally felt the effects of dehydration and starvation, and quickly fainted. The remaining group rushed him to a medical wing within the facility, and hooked him up to fluids and a heart monitor. After he was stabilized, Steve came to talk to Rhodes and Bruce, while Wong went to rest and Rocket locked himself away in his quarters.

"He must have been without water for days," Bruce explained to Cap. "His body finally gave out, but the fluids and nutrients we have on hand should help him get back to full strength soon."

"Good," Steve replied. "Let's re-integrate him slowly. I'd imagine I'm probably the last person he should talk too. Has anyone called Pepper?"

"I will now," Rhodes replied, leaving Bruce and Steve in corridor outside Tony's room.

"How did you find him?" Steve asked.

"We were right about the tech that Scott brought back from the future," Bruce explained. "We were able to lock onto a similar signal, and when we got the location, Wong was able to make doorway to the other end of space. It took a few tries, but it finally worked."

"Good work," Steve commended.

"You should know that there were no other survivors," Bruce confessed. "Spider-man, Strange, and Rocket's team were all wiped out." The news didn't phase Cap, but he nodded and placed his hand on Bruce's shoulder. Without saying a word, Steve walked back to the lounge area and sat down and let out a big sigh. He shut his eyes and, without warning, his emotions got the best of him. A tear slid down his face, and he was tempted to drive his fist into the sofa that he sat on.

"Are you ok?" A gentle voice asked behind him. Steve quickly wiped away the tear that stained his face, and looked to find Kimberly.

"I get the feeling that even if I said yes, it wouldn't matter," Steve replied.

"I tend to be pretty good at knowing when people are feeling off," Kim smiled. "Do you mind if I sit with you?" Steve hesitated for a moment, but as Kim continued to slowly approach the sofa, he nodded his head. She sat beside him, leaving some distance between them.

"He was a kid," Steve blurted out.

"Who was?" Kim asked.

"Peter Parker, Spider-Man," he replied. "He was just a kid from Queens. How many others, like him, are gone because we failed?"

"This has always been more for you than Bucky, hasn't it?" Kim asked. "Bucky was your best friend, right?" Steve nodded.

"Whatever fight I've walked into, against all the odds, I've been able to protect the ones I care about," Steve replied. "But there are just some things I can't beat. Death is one of them. I just wish that wasn't the case."

"You remind me of Jason," Kim replied. "He was the first ever red ranger, one of the best leaders I've ever known."

"He was wiped away too?"

Kim nodded. "He was a good friend, and an even better man. But one of his greatest flaws was that he would take on the burdens of other so deeply, that he couldn't let go when he needed too. His greatest fear was to let his friends down." The description made Steve crack a small grin.

"Sounds like we were cut from the same cloth."

"You were," she replied. "Don't lose hope, Steve. We're going to get them back."

"I hope you're right," he replied. "I don't mean to be nosy…" he started, changing the subject. "But is everything ok between you and Katherine? It's seemed fairly tense between you two." Kim sighed at the question.

"I don't know," Kim confessed. "I mean, I knew things would be weird between us. We both dated the same guy and all, but I didn't think that would affect us so much now. Honestly, I thought things would be harder with Tommy, but that hasn't been hard at all. In fact, it's been surprisingly great to be around him again. I just wish I knew why Kat was so cold towards me."

"Why don't you just ask her?" Steve countered.

"Well… I mean, honestly…" Kim fumbled her words a bit, trying to figure out how she felt. "I think I gave Tommy up all those years ago because I just assumed he liked her, and I knew she loved him. I think I've always associated Kat with someone who stole my man."

"Despite the fact that you dumped him?"

"Yeah… I guess that doesn't make sense."

"Look, I get there's hard feelings," Steve replied. "When Tony finally heals up, we probably won't have the most pleasant greeting. But if we're going to get through this, we need to move past whatever issues that hinder us." He paused to find Kim hanging on every word. "Kat's been through a lot. We all have. Remember that, because it will give you compassion, even when you don't want to be compassionate."

"Thanks," Kim replied. "I needed that."

"We all do," Steve smiled. "We would do well to remember that no one here is our enemy, even when it feels like it." Before Kim could respond, an alarm rang throughout the facility.

"That doesn't sound good," Kim responded. The pair ran down to the war room, joining the rest of the rangers, Clint, Natasha, Scott, and Rhodes. "What's going on?"

"Remember how I said in the future that Red Skull was going to come and conquer earth?" Scott asked. He pointed to the screen which showed the very familiar face of the former HYDRA villain. At least, familiar to Steve. "I didn't realize you called him Red Skull because his skull was actually red. If that were the case, I'd have called him ugly face or something…"

"I heard that," he spoke with his ominous, accented voice.

"I meant that in the most flattering way possible…" Scott started, but Steve cut him off.

"What do you want, Schmidt?" Rogers asked.

"Captain America, we meet again," Red Skull cackled. "I must say, I was hoping you were still alive. It will be a pleasure to kill you myself, to pay you back for sending me across space all those years ago."

"What are you talking about?" Steve asked. "I didn't send you anywhere."

"Not intentionally. I know that now. But your interference in my plans granted me with knowledge and wisdom that was beyond my grasp before."

"What are you talking about?" Steve asked.

"I led Thanos to the soul stone, before that, I was its guardian. I learned much about the infinity stones, and I know they have judged me worthy to survive. And now, because of my service to the stone, I have been rewarded."

"Rewarded?"

"Thanos has given me his army. He has judged me as able to lead whatever world I choose, since I served the stone for decades faithfully. I choose earth. If you stand in my way, you will face my wrath. The rest of you have 48 hours before we arrive on your planet. Bring the Captain to me as a peace offering, or stand and be destroyed with him."

"Look pal, there ain't going to be a peace offering," Rocky challenged.

"Then you'll all die meaningless deaths, following an inferior soldier," Red Skull mocked. "See you soon, Captain. I look forward to exacting my revenge." The screen went black after his final words. The group sat quiet for a moment, until Natasha broke the silence.

"You okay, Steve?" She asked.

"I never thought I would see him again," he spoke somberly. "It feels like a lifetime ago when we fought."

"What can we expect with him?" Tommy asked.

"When he worked with HYDRA, he was all about harnessing the power of the gods," Steve replied. "He found the tesseract, which I believe was one of the infinity stones, and used it to make some of the most powerful weapons to ever be used on earth."

"Do you think Thanos gave him the infinity stones to use now?" Tanya asked.

"I don't know," Steve replied. "And... I'll be honest, I'm not sure what we do next."

"We wait," the voice of Thor rang in the air as he entered the room. "When Stark awakens, we'll devise a plan to defeat this Red Skull, and then figure out a way to get Loki and I into space with Rocket."

"What if this guy has the stones?" Adam asked.

"He won't," Thor replied. "Just one of these stones would destroy a normal human because of their sheer power, even Thanos needed a master dwarf to make the gauntlet so that he could possess and wield their power."

"Wait... if these things are so powerful, how are we going to steal them from Thanos when the time comes?" Scott asked.

"Hopefully with the zeo crystal," Tommy replied. "We may not be able to steal the stones, but we might be able to harness their power."

"Tommy, do we know how many stones there are?" Kat asked.

"There are six stones," Thor answered. "Power, space, reality, soul, time, and mind."

"Six stones, five sub-divisions and shards of the crystal," Tanya realized. "That leaves us one shard short."

"Unless if we can find a way to reorganize the crystal so that it would give us six sub-divisions. Six rangers."

"I thought the zeo rangers had a sixth?" Clint asked.

"We did, but he wasn't powered by the zeo crystal," Tommy answered. "If we're able to do this, Kim could be the sixth ranger, and we'd be able to harness their power."

"That sounds all well and good, but we still have no idea if we can actually do that," Natasha replied skeptically. "Not to mention, we still have no idea where Thanos is, and if we can't find him, we might be in serious trouble when it comes to defending a broken world from a power-hungry maniac."

"We'll need some help," Steve responded.

"No offense, but where else are we going to get help from?" Clint asked. "We all ready have the power rangers, who exactly could we ask." Steve hesitated for a moment, before he answered.

"Ross."

"What?!" Clint reacted.

"Steve, are you out of your mind?" Natasha questioned.

"Who's Ross?" Tanya asked.

"Only the guy who locked us up for trying to save the world!" Scott quipped.

"I all ready tried him, Cap," Rhodes answered.

"And?" Steve asked.

"Nothing," Rhodes replied. "No answer. I don't know if it's because he's screening his calls, or because he's been wiped away."

"Look, I'm going to keep trying. If he's dead, then he's dead. If he isn't, he could be valuable to us. He may still be unreasonable, but for those of us who were in Wakanda, do you remember how tough those aliens were? How many of them there were? We had a whole army of Wakandans with us along with a number of other skilled fighters. They aren't here now. If we're going to fight a war, we need an army. We need to at least try."

"For the record, I don't like it," Natasha replied.

"I don't like it either," Steve agreed. "But I'm going to make a phone call."

 _ **To be continued...**_

 _ **Thanks for reading, feel free to leave a review.**_

 _ **\- Googz333**_


	8. Chapter 8

**Death was Arrested - Chapter 8**

A few hours had passed since the transmission from Red Skull, and little progress was made on any strategic front. Steve had tried calling Ross non-stop, but there was no answer. Tony needed rest, but how much of it was unknown. It didn't help that they had no qualified physicians on hand to help him. Steve, Nat, and Kimberly sat in the lounge together, with Steve finally concluding that Ross either didn't want to talk to him, or that he was wiped away in the decimation.

"Where is he?!" A frantic female voice was heard from outside the lounge. The trio in the lounge all rose to their feet quickly, startled by the new voice. The red-haired woman entered the room, her face stained by tears.

"Pepper," Natasha greeted her. But before she could embrace her, Pepper continued.

"Where is he? Where's Tony?"

"He's in the medical bay," Steve explained. "He suffered severe dehydration and starvation. We're lucky we found him when we did."

"Thank you for finding him," Pepper replied. "Can I see him?"

"Let me take you to him," Nat replied. "He's still unconscious, but you can sit with him if you'd like."

Nat guided Pepper to his room, and when Pepper saw him lying in his bed, she began to tear up again. She quickly composed herself and thanked Nat. She dragged over a chair and put it next to him, and she sat down and grasped his hand. She sat there for nearly a half hour not knowing what to say, or what to do.

"Tony..." She started, but tears once more threatened. "I... I thought the last memory of me you had was one of anger and disappointment. You were on that ship and I... all I saw was another broken promise to me. I didn't think you cared about me, all you cared about was your avenging, being iron man. I didn't realize that what you were really trying to do was to save me... to save us." She closed her eyes, tears continuing to fall.

"Are those tears for your long-lost fiance..." Tony's voice stirred, startling Pepper. She looked at him, seeing his eyes were now slightly open.

"Tony..."

"I never thought I was going to see you again," he confessed, squeezing her hand. "When everyone was wiped away... I hoped against hope that you were ok." His voice trailed off for a moment. "I promise I'll never miss another dinner reservation."

"I think you should promise to never make promises you can't keep," Pepper retorted, a smirk on her face.

"Well, at least I got sentimentality from you for about thirty seconds, that's more than usual," Tony replied playfully.

"This coming from the man who said that sentimentality would never be a word that defined him?"

"I'm just saying, I was in deep space, running out of oxygen, food, and water, I could just use a little more sympathy."

"You could use a swift kick to the head."

"That's also probably true," Tony replied, a small grin. "I love you, Miss Potts."

"It won't be Miss Potts for much longer," she grinned. After a brief pause, Pepper continued. "Look, you can't keep that promise, you have a job to do, and that job might mean you will miss some dinner dates."

"I know," Tony replied. "I think we have a chance to undo what Thanos did. I don't know necessarily how..."

"Maybe you should ask Steve?" The mention of his name caused him to grimace.

"Rogers?"

"Yeah, he's here," she replied. Without a word, Tony leapt off the bed and started putting on the change of clothes that Bruce and Rhodey had gotten him. "Tony..." Her faint plea wasn't enough to keep him from dressing quickly and heading to the door.

"Let's go Pepper." He waited patiently for her, but she didn't budge from the chair that she had been sitting in. "Pepper!"

"I know you and Steve had a falling out, but don't you think you need to move past it?" She pleaded. "For goodness sakes, half the universe is gone, I just found out that you were still alive. Steve is here, maybe you guys can talk and figure out if there's anything you can do..."

"We didn't just have a falling out, it's his fault that this happened in the first place." The angry accusation was the last thing he said before walking out the door. He was fueled by adrenaline and rage, moving quickly through the hallways before he ended up exactly where he didn't want to be: in the lounge with Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff, not to mention a petite brunette he had never met.

"Tony," Steve greeted him, yielding a scoff from his old friend.

"Figures," Tony started.

"Tony, don't say something you'll regret," Pepper called out as she ran into the room, finally catching up to her fiance.

"I don't think I'll regret this." Tony's tone was serious, his eyes locked onto the man who he hadn't seen or talked to for years. "You think you're some sort of hero, swooping back into our little pad when the going got rough? Well where were you when the fate of the universe was in the balance?"

"We were doing what was available to us, which at the time was saving Vision and Wanda," Natasha deftly countered.

"Seems like you did a great job," Tony quipped. "I'd imagine Vision had to die so that Thanos could get the his stone?" The room was silent, and Steve's countenance fell. "And Wanda? Where is she?"

"She's gone Tony," Steve replied. "T'Challa, Sam... Bucky..."

"Of course," Tony chided. "Your precious Bucky."

"Look Tony, this isn't easy for any of us..."

"You don't get it, do you?" Stark shot back. "I was earth's last defense, and when the going got tough, I had to rely on a wizard and kid from Queens. Not on the Avengers, not on..."

"And exactly who's fault was that?" Romanoff challenged, but Steve put his hand up.

"It's okay, Nat," Steve replied. "We could have done the Sokovia Accords better. If I had been willing to listen..."

"If only you could have listened," Tony mocked. "Tell me, Captain Rogers, do you remember when you asked me when Coulson died, if it was the first time I lost a soldier?"

"I do."

"Peter Parker died in my arms, begging me not to go. He was sixteen. He was... I put him in harm's way to stop you from breaking the law." Tony began to tear up, thinking once more about the young man who he had grown very fond of. "Do me a favor, Cap... stay out of my way before I decide to call Ross on you." He turned to walk out, before Steve interjected.

"We don't know where Ross is," Steve replied.

"Then I'll call the next available agent!" Tony walked out briskly, Pepper trying to catch up with him. He finally slowed down enough so she could catch him, and they made their way out to her vehicle. They barely spoke, Pepper trying to give Tony the space he needed, despite the fact that she disagreed with how he was handling this conflict. Tony opened her door for her so that she could enter the driver side of the car, but before he could walk around to get in himself, he heard a voice calling out for him.

"Tony, wait!"

He looked to see that it was the petite brunette who had been in the lounge with Cap and Nat.

"Look, I know that not everyone watches the news, but I'm engaged, so I can't really..."

"I'm not here about..."

"Oh, well if you're not interested in that, I can sign whatever you want, just tell me who the autograph is going for..."

"Stephen Strange visited me twelve years ago!" She yelled, the name catching Tony's attention.

"You know Strange?" She nodded. "And who exactly are you?"

"Kimberly Hart, former power ranger," she replied.

"Power ranger?" He rolled his eyes and then started to go over to the passenger side of the car.

"Tony, you can't leave!" He ignored her as he began to climb into the car. "Strange said there was one way to save the world, and..."

"What did you say?" He stopped to look at her. He climbed back out of the car and made his way towards her. "What... what did you just say?"

"When Strange and I talked, he said that Tommy, another ranger, and I, were key in helping you and Steve save the universe from Thanos. That we were the only way."

"Strange knew..." Tony whispered. He leaned back into the car and spoke to Pepper. "We're staying." He focused his attention back to Kimberly. "What all did he tell you?"

"He told me that Tommy and I were key, and that we needed to help you and Steve. He was pressed for time, I'd imagine that it was because he knew Thanos was coming."

"So... just to be clear, you saw Strange from the future, in the past."

"Yes," Kim admitted sheepishly. "Look, I know it sounds crazy..."

"It does," Tony interjected. "But right now... we could all use a little crazy. Tell you what, Ms. Ranger, wrangle everyone up. The master of the mystic arts has been engineering our victory, and I'd hate to disappoint him."

Kim spread the word throughout the compound that Tony was coming back, which shocked a lot of people, especially Steve and Natasha. Everyone, including Thor, Loki, Rocket, and the rangers, gathered in the common room. Many sat at the table in the center of the room, including Steve, who sat at the head of the table. He stared right at Tony, who paced around the room. He looked over towards Loki, which brought a grimace to his face.

"Not going to lie, I'm a little concerned that you're not in restraints," Tony quipped.

"This is my fight as much as yours," Loki replied, his tone laced with a seriousness that Tony didn't expect. "He killed our people."

"No offense, but considering you started this whole mess, you're not exactly on my friend list just yet."

"Tony..." Bruce interjected.

"I'm just saying..."

"He makes a false move I'll remove his head from the rest of him," Clint added, still dressed in his ninja garb.

"My god... Clint?" Tony gasped at the new look, as well as the sadistic reply. "What happened to you?"

"What happened to him is what happened to the rest of us," Tommy spoke up. "Look, I know you've been gone for a while, but we're all hurting here. We're scrambling to find a way to undo what Thanos did."

"Ok," Tony sighed. "Where are we so far?"

"There's a power source that we have, it's called the zeo crystal," Tommy explained. "Our hope is once we find Thanos, we can find a way to harness the power of the stones with it."

"What good will that do?" Tony asked.

"We don't know, honestly." Tommy confessed.

"It's possible that we could reverse time," Wong chimed in. "It might get the ones we've lost back, and we might be able to stop Thanos if we have the power of the stones."

"Ok, so here's the million dollar question," Tony started. "How do we find him... and how do we stop him?"

"We're still working on finding him," Rhodes started to explain. "But once we find him, Thor will take the rangers with the crystal, along with a few others, while the rest of us defend the earth from the impending threat."

"Impending threat?" Tony asked.

"The Red Skull," Steve replied.

"You mean your old nemesis from World War II?" Tony asked. "HYDRA?"

"Not HYDRA, Red Skull with Thanos' army of outriders," Steve replied. "Apparently Red Skull led Thanos to one of the infinity stones. In exchange, he has an army."

"Not to mention that army wipes everybody out in the future," Scott Lang added. "At least, if we don't change it."

"And how would you know that?" Tony challenged.

"Because I traveled five years into the future and found it decimated by outriders," Scott replied. "Believe it or not, the only Avenger left was you." He pointed at Tony.

"Me?" Tony asked. The revelation stunned Tony. He pulled over a chair and sat down. He took a couple of deep breaths, trying to take in all of the twists and turns the avengers and rangers had just told him. "I saw this coming."

"What do you mean?" Thor asked.

"When Wanda..." he stuttered. "When she and Ultron fought against us, she showed me a vision. The avengers were dead. Earth, overrun. And I was the only one left."

"That was a dream, Tony," Natasha challenged.

"It's reality," Tony replied. "This is my fault. Thanos... when I fought him on Titan, he knew who I was. He knew. Like I was some guardian to be conquered. And when it was over..." His voice trailed off for a moment as memories from the battle flooded his memories. He gulped hard, and then continued. "I gave him everything I had, with my greatest innovation, and I got one drop of blood. That was before he impaled me with my own armor. Before Strange saved my life by giving him the Time Stone."

"He saved your life so you could help us," Kim comforted him.

"Why am I the survivor? Why did the kid have to die?!"

"We've lost, Tony," Steve replied, standing up. His voice, the tone, it captured everyone's attention. Tony's full attention was on him. "All of us. We've lost friends. We've lost family." Steve looked over to Katherine, who had a tear falling from her eyes. He then looked over to Clint. "We've lost a part of ourselves. But, we have a chance to make this right. This is the fight of our lives."

"How do we plan on winning this fight?" Tony asked sheepishly. Steve looked back towards his old friend, and for a moment it seemed like it was just the two of them in the room.

"Together."

 _ **To Be Continued...**_

 _ **Thanks for reading, feel free to review!**_

 _ **\- Googz333**_


	9. Chapter 9

**Death Was Arrested - Chapter 9**

The group dispersed after Steve gave the crew orders. He initiated a countdown clock so they would know how much time they had until Red Skull arrived on the planet, and he had Bruce and Rhodey work with what was left of federal law enforcement to have them watch the skies for any incoming ships approaching the earth's atmosphere. Rocket and Tony worked with Tommy and Kimberly to help create technology so that the zeo crystal could become a conduit for a greater power source, while the rest of the rangers, Thor, Loki, Clint, Natasha, and Scott all got some much needed rest before they geared up to fight the first wave of Red Skull's army.

As Rocket and Tony worked, the pair traded quips, yet Tony was the first human that Rocket had been impressed by. Or at least, impressed by his technological ingenuity. It seemed like everytime Rocket was ready to criticize the inventor, Tony would do something that would work. First it was testing the levels of energy that the zeo crystal had in its own entity, then the introduction of power. He then analyzed Tommy's zeonizers to figure out how they transmitted the power of crystal into a powerful suit of armor.

"I wish I could say this Zordon guy copied me..." Tony joked. "The zeo crystal isn't an arc reactor, but it's similar to it. Your zeonizers are conduits to the power."

"Well, they were," Tommy replied. "Who knows how much power the shards are still giving off, with the morphing grid off-line."

"The morphing grid isn't the problem," Tony replied as he continued to analyze the morpher. "The only thing the grid did, at least from what I can tell, is that it helped form the type of armor you used. It allowed you to access different weapons, equipment."

"What exactly are you saying?" Kim asked.

"Ever use a macbook?" The pair nodded. "The power source comes in from a charged battery in the unit. But it doesn't only need power, it needs an operating system, programming... the grid, at least from how you described it, had a template to use. It gave a practical application of the power, but it wasn't the power itself."

"So you're saying that the zeo crystal doesn't need the morphing grid?" Tommy asked. "How is that possible? All of our powers were always fried when severed from the grid."

"It wasn't always the grid that kept us from the power," Kim replied. "You told me that when you lost the Dinothunder powers that the gems had been drained of their power."

"What you need is a new operating system," Tony replied. "Complete upgrade, from top to bottom. Including a new shard from the crystal to get Ms. Hart here back in the game. Then, we'll create a program of sorts that allows the zeo crystal to connect to the stones."

"How exactly are you going to do that?" Rocket asked. "That might take months, and we ain't got months based on what soldier boy was talking about."

"Well... I did create my first iron man suit in a cave with a box of scraps. Created a power source that powered my suit and kept shrapnel from entering my heart, created a new element to then keep the old arc reactor from poisoning me to death, harnessed an infinity stone and created two super bots, one of which wasn't a good idea, and then created a brand new nanotechnology to create the greatest suit I've ever made." Tony stopped to look at his new working buddy.

"What, am I supposed to be impressed by that? I saw Thor survive the power of a dying star, you're not that impressive."

"Yeah, well, Thor's a show off," Tony quipped. "Looking at the crystal, and taking a look at the tech from my future self from Mr. Lang, we should be able to get a new set of power rangers in no time."

"Thanks Tony," Tommy replied.

As Tony continued to work, Tommy and Kimberly left him and Rocket to go and rest for the upcoming battle. They conversed a bit as they walked, mostly light conversation until the topic of Red Skull came up.

"Are you ready to get back out there?" Tommy asked.

"Honestly, not really," Kim confessed. "When I left the rangers, I was pretty sure I was done for good. Even when Strange appeared in my apartment, I didn't believe I'd be a ranger again. To be honest, I'm still not sure if it will happen."

"Stark seems to be pretty confident it will," Tommy replied. "We need you out there."

"I don't know... the five of you worked pretty well as a team." Her reply came with a bit of nervous chewing on her bottom lip. "The zeo rangers have worked a long time together. In some ways it feels like I'm butting in as an unwelcome guest."

"Anyone in particular making you feel that way?" The question cut right to the heart of the matter as Kim's cheeks flushed a bright shade of red. "You should talk to her."

"Tommy..." Kim began to plead, but Tommy cut her off.

"Look, I'll be the first to admit that probably all of the coldness in your relationship with Kat is due to my insensitivities and stupidity, but that doesn't mean you guys shouldn't talk it out."

"What do you mean?" Kim asked. The question caught Tommy off-guard.

"Let's just say I wasn't fair to her. Extremely unfair to her. We were engaged."

"What?!" The admission caught Kim off guard.

"I broke it off soon after, and the next time I saw her was a few weeks ago, and whether it's fair or not, she saw me with you and assumed we were back together." Kim didn't know whether to punch her ex-boyfriend or feel sorry for him, but she didn't have enough time to process the thought. "I think Kat is in the lounge, you should go talk to her."

"What about you?" Kim challenged. "I mean, if it is your fault..."

"We have talked. I think it'll be helpful for the two of you to clear the air." Kim rolled her eyes at Tommy's remark.

"I'm only going to do it because Captain America thought it also would be a good idea," Kim conceded. "But don't think you're out of the woods yet, mister."

"I wouldn't dream of it," Tommy smiled. "Get some rest." He wandered off, while Kim took a deep breath and wandered into the lounge where Katherine was sprawled out on one of the leather sofas.

"Kat?" She stirred and looked up and over the sofa to see that Kim was behind her. Kat gazed at her predecesor, her eyes seemingly glazed over. "I'm sorry if I woke you."

"No... I was close to dozing off, but I think I'd like to go to my quarters anyway, get a good few hours before we have to report back."

"Before you do... can we talk?" Kim asked awkwardly.

"Can it wait?" Kat asked, a not so subtle irritation attached to the tone of her voice.

"I'm pretty sure I've waited too long all ready," Kim replied. "And from our few interactions on base, I'd guess you have too." Kat scooched over towards the end of the couch, allowing Kim to circle around and sit on the other end of it. "Look... I don't know if there's anything I've done to offend you, but if I have, I'd ask you would forgive me." Kat's anger dissolved into sadness, her face showing pain while her eyes began to well up with tears. She tried to speak, but she was overcome with emotion. Kim slowly moved towards her, and gently placed her hand on her shoulder. The gesture became a full embrace, the petite woman clutching her replacement, letting her weep freely.

After a few moments, Kat moved her head, and Kim allowed her freedom to move back to the end of the sofa. "Sorry," Kat choked out. "I... I don't know what came over me."

"Well, we have approximately 40 hours before Red Skull gets here, so we have until then to talk about it," Kim chided, which brought a much needed smile to the Australian.

"I think I've spent so much time being angry with you, but the way you approached me, wondering if you had done something wrong..." Kat stalled for a minute, trying to come up with the right words. "It's easy to villainize someone until they do something honorable with you."

"Thanks... I think?"

"I was always jealous of you, Kimberly," Kat continued.

"Jealous?" Kim gasped. "Of me?"

"You had everything, at least I thought you did. Good friends, great boyfriend, power ranger, popular in school, pan-global gymnast. I wanted what you had. When you broke up with Tommy, I felt like I couldn't have him. He was too good for me, because he had you. And then when he broke up with me out of blue the same way you broke it off with him..."

"Wait... what?!" Kim stopped her. "What do you mean he broke it off the same way? Tommy just told me you both were engaged."

"Apparently I wasn't good enough for him. Not even good enough for an explanation. Just a letter."

"I... I can't believe it." Kim didn't know whether to leave the room and berate her ex-boyfriend, or to weep with her fellow ranger.

"I haven't been the same since," Katherine admitted. "Granted... I didn't know what Tommy was going through either. But for a long time, I've been wondering if everyone would leave me. Am I worthy of anyone? Everyone I knew moved away, Tommy didn't want to see me, and the whole dance community isn't exactly the most welcoming place in the world. All that I had left, it seemed, was Danny."

"Your older brother, right?" Kim asked. Kat nodded. "Let me guess... he faded away?" Tears threatened once more, but Kat fought more to stay composed.

"Soon after he faded, I got a call from Tommy. The first phone call in nearly ten years. And it's about a mission. And then I get here, and you're here too, and it feels like everything is back to the way it was all those years ago when I met you both. Young and in love, and me longing to be in your place, the one with everything."

"I didn't realize that was how you felt," Kim empathized. "I'm sorry that you felt that way, and if I made you feel that in any way." Kat nodded as she sniffled. "I guess, I'm just amazed that you thought I had everything."

"What do you mean?" Kat asked.

"Well, to be honest, I was always a little jealous of you, too" Kim confessed.

"You were jealous? Of me?"

"Katherine, you're tall and blonde, you were valedictorian of Angel Grove High, you're a high-level dancer, and an amazing pink ranger. Honestly, part of the reason I sent the letter was out of fear that I would get dumped first and he would move on to you."

"What?" Kat gasped.

"It was stupid, honestly," Kim confessed. "But you were with Tommy all the time. You worked together in school and as rangers. And I was in Florida. Alone. Without Tommy, wondering if I would get a phone call one day saying that he moved on to you. So I did the one thing that I thought would save me the most pain: I dumped him first."

"So you dumped him because you were intimidated of me?" Kat asked.

"Kat, I think you're great," she replied. "And Tommy... I know he trusts you with his life."

"And how would you know that?" Kat asked honestly.

"Because he called you here," Kim replied. It was at this point that she grasped Kat's hand to affirm her.

"Thanks Kim," Kat replied. "I'm sorry for how I've treated you."

"I forgive you, friend," Kim affirmed. "Now... I need to give our mutual ex-boyfriend a tongue lashing he is going to wish he never received." The statement brought a chuckle to the blonde.

"Go easy on him," Kat reminded her. "He was going through some hard things too." With that they hugged, and Kim wandered off to find Tommy. Kat yawned, and started to get up and leave, but not before she was stopped once more.

"See, that wasn't so bad," a voice said behind her.

"Oh Captain, my Captain," Kat joked as he turned around. "Making sure Kim and I were following orders?" He grinned at the accusation.

"No, but I am pleased to see all of our newest members getting along," Steve replied. "You doing ok?"

"I'll be better after I get some sleep," she yawned. "Good night Captain."

"It's Steve," he replied. "My friends call me Steve."

"Good night, Steve."

"Good night, Katherine."

 _ **To Be Continued...**_

 _ **Thanks for reading, Don't forget to review**_

 _ **-Googz333**_


	10. Chapter 10

**Death Was Arrested - Chapter 10**

*Titan 2*

It was another picturesque day. The sun shined brightly in the clear blue skies, providing warmth on the green grass on the surface. It was lush, full of life. Thanos felt that warmth melt into his core, a sense of peace and joy that rattled up and down his soul. He looked out from his make-shift abode, which was barely held up by a few beams and spare wood, and looked out on his latest project. His farm, full of choice crops. He stepped further towards his latest project, entering its outer edges and taking his hand and stroking some of the plants, which looked like a form of wheat, with his one hand.

He continued to stroll through the crops, though not without a noticeable limp. He made it to a point in the crops where he reached a wooden post. He looked up to find the armor that he had worn during his great victories. It was gold-plated, with deep blue armor all around. It was crooked at the moment and so he lifted his other hand, which wore the mangled infinity gauntlet, which was complete with all six stones, and grasped hold of the wooden pole. With a grunt, he jostled it around until it was finally even with the ground.

"Doing a good job keeping the crows out," he muttered, though there were no signs of crows to be found. Nor any other birds for that matter. He took his other hand and wiped the sweat from his brow, and then continued to walk through his creation.

As the sun began to set, he finally made his way back to his home. As he reached his dwelling, he saw a light in the distance. It burned closer and closer, until it made a massive thud a few miles away. "They're early," he whispered. He raised the gauntlet and the blue gem began to glow, and he was transported to the sight of the crash. He recognized the ship immediately. An old ravager ship, which had been given to a certain daughter of his. As he walked around it, he recognized that its pod was missing. He grimaced a bit as he limped around a bit more. He finally began to approach the front of the ship. When the hatch opened, Nebula leapt out at Thanos, brandishing one of her long blades. However, her step-father merely raised his glove and accessed the power stone, and she was held in mid-air, unable to move.

"Murderer!" She choked out.

"Didn't you try to help Ronan wipe out all of Xandar?" He scoffed. A sly grin crept on his face as he paced around her.

"How did I get here?" Nebula asked.

"I knew the remaining Guardians and Stark would be on a Ravager ship," he replied knowingly. "Ayesha and the rest of her gold-skinned race wanted revenge on the Guardians of the Galaxy. I mainly just pointed her in the right direction. I gave them enough information on one condition, that they bring you to me."

"Good job, you got what you wanted," she scoffed.

"Not exactly," Thanos groaned. He limped towards his adopted daughter and placed his gloved hand around her chin. "Where's Stark?"

"I don't know," she spoke defiantly. The answer did not please him, so he continued access the power stone, and pain filled her body. Her screams progressed further, pain that she had never felt before enflaming her, until there was relief.

"I'm going to ask you one last time. Where is Stark?"

"I told you, I don't know," she replied. "When we were attacked, his pod was jettisoned. We lost contact. I don't know where he is." Thanos removed his hand from Nebula's face and turned away for a moment. "Why do you want him?" The question hung for a while, with no answer coming. Until Thanos turned back towards his daughter.

"Stark and I have some unfinished business."

"I thought you finished whatever you started when you destroyed half of the universe," she scowled.

"That was my life's work," Thanos replied. "Not that you would understand. I saved the universe from destroying itself. The population will be able to live with abundant food and resources, they will never run out. I was merciful to them."

"You weren't merciful, you're a plague! You killed your own daughter!"

"Salvation has a high cost," he growled. "Unfortunately, no one is coming to save you."

"Wha..." Before she could finish the word, Thanos lashed out his anger, and she was decimated by the gaunlet. However, the power unleashed brought Thanos to his knees. The pain was excruciating, as he gasped for air.

*Upstate New York*

The countdown clock read four hours until Red Skull was supposed to make it to the earth's surface. Steve stood alone in the common room, watching each second tick off methodically. He was wearing his old uniform, the one he wore back when he helped the Avengers save New York.

"You know, Thor let slip that you had a beard," Tony quipped in the background as stepped into the room. "Didn't say it was particularly flattering, and to be honest, I never really pictured you as a mountain man type of guy." Steve turned to look at him with a bit of an incredulous look. "All I'm saying is, I appreciate you clean-shaven."

"You do realize the beard was due to me being on the run, right?"

"Huh..." Tony realized. "I hadn't thought about that." The genuine reply brought silence to the pair. "I... I screwed up, Steve."

"What?"

"You're going to make me say it again, aren't you? I knew this wouldn't be easy..."

"Easy for who?"

"I'm sorry, Cap!" He cried. "I messed us up, I broke up the Avengers, this is..." A moment of sadness washed over Stark. "If we had been together when this happened, maybe we make it out on top." He paused for a moment, and then looked up at his friend.

"I'm not sure there was anything either of us could do," Steve calmly responded.

"You know, I haven't had much time to reflect, you know, since being in space, and then getting here and going immediately to work on the zeo crystal, but I had an epiphany."

"You going to church on me?" Steve asked quizzically.

"My eyes were opened."

"To what?"

"When we were fighting Thanos on Titan, we had him down and out. Me, Strange, the kid, and Rocket's team had worked together, and we almost had the gauntlet off. We had him hypnotized, I think. I'm not sure what the alien girl could actually do, but he was out. And Quill, he was their leader, he strutted proudly. We had won. And then he lost control."

"What happened?"

"He found out Thanos killed his girl," Tony replied. "And he slammed his gun into Thanos' face, and he woke up and he... well... we lost. In the midst of that, before Thanos woke up, I told Quill not to react. I told him to keep his emotions in check. And, looking back, I can't forget that the same thing happened to me in Siberia. You knew about my mother. About my father. And you knew how I would react. I couldn't think, I couldn't reason, I just responded. All heart, no reason. My emotions destroyed the Avengers."

"Your emotions are what make you human, Tony," Steve consoled him. "Could you have thought through them better, sure. But you weren't the only one to make mistakes there. Every day, I've thought about how I should have told you, how I should have listened more. If you broke up the Avengers, then so did I." The pair sat in silence for a moment, before Tony broached the topic once more.

"I'm sorry Steve."

"Me too. And I forgive you."

"Likewise." Tony smiled as he patted Steve on the back. "Look... about your outfit..."

"I know, I know, it's old fashioned," he replied.

"No, it's just incomplete," Tony quipped. "I think you'll need this." He walked over behind the table and picked up Steve's old vibranium shield. The same one that Steve had driven into Tony's suit years before. He handed it to Steve, who held it with wonder.

"Thank you Tony."

"No thanks needed," Tony replied. "You're Captain America, and you're the leader of the Avengers. I'll follow your lead."

Elsewhere on base, Kim found Tommy resting in his quarters. She knocked on his door, and he let her in.

"Any word from Stark?" Tommy asked. She shook her head.

"It's possible we'll be grounded for the first fight," she replied. "He's working hard, and he's a genius, but he was still trying to work on the sixth shard to make my powers possible."

"Well, if we can't be out there, we can at least give support from in here," Tommy smiled. He went to place his hand on her shoulder, but she flinched at his touch. "Everything ok?"

"Kat told me what happened," Kim replied somberly. "You did the exact same thing that I did to you." She glared at him, a hint of anger flashed in her voice.

"Ok, if you're going to get mad at me for something that you in turn did to me..."

"Engaged, Tommy! You were engaged! How could you..."

"How could I?!" Tommy looked incredulously at her. "Look in the mirror, Kim!" Tommy quickly regretted his words, as he saw the expression on Kimberly's face change from anger to sadness. He breathed deeply, closed his eyes for a moment, and then made eye contact with her. "I'm sorry," he said calmly. "I... with all that's been happening, I haven't really told you anything. I'm not exactly the hero, or the man, you think I am."

"What do you mean?" Kim asked. He walked towards the window of his room and looked outside, and let out a big sigh as he turned back towards her.

"I never really kept in touch with you guys," he started. "Jason knew a little bit, but even he wasn't exactly in the loop on my life. All he knew was the little I could share with him when we went to the moon together."

"You guys went to the moon?" Kim was stunned.

"I figured he told you." She shook her head. "Machine empire came back, ten red rangers, we won, I went back to my own little world, where I shut most of the rangers out. Aside from Jason, who insisted on never leaving me alone, I was able to keep my distance." He paused for a moment, his lips quivered, and his hands shook. "No one knew this... until a couple weeks ago. I had a mental breakdown." The look of concern on Kimberly's face grew. Tommy tried to look her in the eye, but the feeling of shame overcame him as he stared down at his feet.

"I had asked Katherine to marry me when I was 19 years old," he nearly whispered. "I never really dealt with losing my powers, graduating school... breaking up with you." He finally mustered up the courage to look Kim in the eye. "Katherine made me feel sane. She was my calm in the midst of the storm, which felt good in the moment. But I used her. She was my coping mechanism, and I never knew it until she was halfway around the world. And here I was, engaged to this beautiful woman, but couldn't even begin to process all of the loss in my life. And I froze. I threw away every relationship, including Katherine. I shut all the rangers out."

"Why did you shut us out?" Kim asked gently.

"Because I was your leader," Tommy stuttered, as a tear threatened to fall. "And here I was, leader of the power rangers, the one you guys were supposed to count on, and I can't even lead himself. I was the one that hurt Katherine. I couldn't get out of my own way." Tears fell, staining his shirt. Kim grabbed a few tissues and walked over towards him, and she rubbed his shoulder to comfort him.

"Hayley was there for you, wasn't she?" Kim asked.

"She was the only one that knew," Tommy confessed. "I had to be strong."

"Tommy, that's not true," Kimberly replied. "I didn't fall in love with you because you were strong. I fell in love with you because you're gentle and caring, and you're honorable and brave."

"I don't feel very brave," he lamented.

"Bravery isn't just in fighting monsters," she comforted. "Sometimes, fighting yourself is harder. You know more of your own weaknesses than Rita ever did." They took a moment and moved towards Tommy's bed, where they both sat next to each other on it. She continued to rub his back, hoping to comfort him. "I was unfair to you. That letter, my accusations just now..."

"I'm sorry too," Tommy replied. "I shouldn't have thrown that back in your face."

"You're not wrong, though," Kim replied. "I... I don't really have a right to get angry when all you did was what I did to you. And to be honest, you had a much better reason."

"Look, regardless of who had the best reason, I still hurt Katherine," Tommy admitted. "And it's nothing I can ever undo."

"Sounds like I hurt you pretty bad too," she grimaced. "I think there's a lot of things we wish we could have back." The comment startled Tommy a bit. He gazed into her eyes, and hers explored his. He leaned down and kissed her. She eagerly accepted for the moment, until they were interrupted by someone who cleared their throat in their doorway. Their eyes shot over towards the one and only Tony Stark.

"Stark? We..."

"Look, if you know my reputation at all, you know I'm not going to give you crap for something like this," he quipped. "In fact... good job." The pair blushed at the comment. "Suits are ready, if you'd like to take a break." He turned around and walked away, but not without a parting shot. "But I wouldn't blame you if you didn't." They looked at each other for a moment with a bit of a blush.

"I'm sorry," Tommy replied.

"Don't be," Kim smiled, sublty chewing the bottom of her lip.

"We... we need to define what this is."

"Yes we do," Kim replied. "But later. Apparently I'm about to join the zeo rangers."

"Either you're a zeo ranger, or we're all becoming iron men."

 _ **To be continued...**_

 _ **Thanks for reading, don't forget to review!**_

 _ **\- Googz333**_


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11 - Death Was Arrested**

The whole team gathered into the hangar bay of the facility. They all lined up to see Tony Stark lining up six different colored suits: red, blue, purple, yellow, green, and orange. Each of their center pieces contained a glowing crystal inside of them.

"If I can have your attention, please," Tony started. "In less than an hour, Thanos' army is coming down to attack what is left of earth's population. Apparently, he's led by some nazi death cult leader who's older than Cap, but don't let his age fool you..."

"Five minutes into us forgiving each other, and now you're going to rip into my age?" Steve asked with a small smile.

"It was either that or bring up the fact that you're still on language duty... as I was saying, Red Skull is bringing an army to wipe us out and claim victory over our planet. In the future, the one Scott Lang saw, he wins. He wipes us out. That's because we weren't unified, that Steve and I... we kept at odds for far too long. Thor goes up into space and is never heard from again, and we all perish... except me... it's always me." Tony stopped for a minute and paced around for a moment. He scanned the room to see his remaining comrades. Some he had known for what felt like a lifetime. Others, just recently.

"I don't know if some of you are ready for this," Tony replied. "No offense, but for years, the power rangers felt like the punch line of a joke. Spandex wearing heroes who fought ridiculous looking monsters. And then there's Loki, who I can't really trust. No offense."

"None taken," Loki replied.

"There's a talking raccoon who keeps doubting my abilities, a wizard who I've only seen fight once..." Tony's voice trailed off, he looked at Rhodey, then at Cap, then Thor, Bruce, Natasha, and Clint. The first friend he had entrusted his secret too, and then the original team. "I keep seeing this vision in my head. All of my friends dead, and I'm all alone. On Titan it started to come true. I held Peter Parker in my arms as he faded out of existence. I told him not to come, I told him I didn't want him in this fight, and he didn't listen, and he died. Maybe the problem wasn't him, it was me. I've been trying to fight a war by myself all these years, because I didn't want losing my friends on my conscience. I wanted to protect them... you. But I can't do that and win. To undo what Thanos did, we do this Cap's way." Stark looked at a surprised Steve Rogers. The whole room looked at him as well, wondering what Stark meant by this. They looked back to Tony, who added one single word. "Together."

"What if we lose?" Rocket asked from the crowd.

"Then, as the good Captain would say, we'll do that together too," Stark replied.

"This is all well and good Tony but, what exactly did you call us in here for," Clint replied skeptically.

"I present to you, the Zeo Rangers 2.0," Tony showed them off. "The color scheme is a little different, but that's because I've designed each one to be compatible with each one of the infinity stones. Even without them, these suits are designed with the zeo crystal as their main energy source, with some modifications based on my designs, they have the capabilities to be the most dynamic super suits ever created."

"You mean, of course, second to yours, right?" Tommy asked.

"No," Tony replied. "Granted, the stones would need to be harnessed some way, whether it be physically inserted into the suit or not, but with the power of the stones, these suits should easily surpass the abilities of my latest suit."

"That's great and all, but how can you be sure those suits will be able to keep the stones stable?" Bruce asked. "When Loki engineered the attack on New York, he needed a stabilizing agent to keep the energy from collapsing the city."

"The zeo crystal is powerful enough to stabilize it," Tony replied.

"You're sure about that?" Tanya asked skeptically. "I mean, I'm excited as anyone to operate a Stark designed super suit, but when you just casually throw in that the energy of one stone nearly collapsed a city on itself..."

"I've done the math," Tony replied. "It'll work."

"We trust you," Kim affirmed. "So who gets what?"

"Well, I thought the leader of the power rangers should decide that," Tony replied. "You guys figure it out, and I'll get you suited it up. But it's gotta be fast, we've got incoming soon."

"For the rest of us, it's time to suit up," Steve commanded. "We need all hands on deck. We want Red Skull to know we aren't some pushover."

"But the suits are ready, we should be getting ready to make our way towards Thanos," Thor challenged.

"Not yet, Thor," Steve replied. "I know you want to get back at him, we all do. But we need to have a united front to start this fight against Schmidt."

"Very well."

The six rangers gathered together to discuss who would get which suit. The first assumption was that they would all get their zeo colors, except that Katherine would get the purple suit, since there wasn't a pink suit, and that Kim would get the left over orange suit. However, Tony came over to explain that each suit was adaptable to each of the six infinity stones. Red was adaptable to the reality stone, blue to the space stone, yellow to the mind, purple to power, green to time, and orange to soul.

The description changed their thinking, to some degree. Which ranger would serve best with each element? Of course, that only mattered if they found their way to the stones in the first place.

As they deliberated, they thought Katherine would do best with the mind stone, as she was probably the smartest of the group. She was yellow. Tanya was level headed under pressure, and wasn't prone to lapses in judgment, which made her a prime candidate for the reality stone. She took the red suit. Adam was the quickest of them, the blue space stone became his, and while Tommy seemed to be a prime candidate for the power stone, they determined that a different stone would be an even better fit for him. Therefore, Rocky took the power stone, as arguably the second strongest fighter of the bunch.

For some reason, Tommy felt an odd connection with the idea of time. It didn't hurt that it also held the color that he started with. But it was more than nostaligia for him. His life was a living microcosm that time shouldn't be trifled with. He wouldn't have chosen to be the evil green ranger. He wouldn't have chosen a number of life events, and yet, he recognized that he needed those things to be the man he was becoming.

That left Kimberly with the soul stone, the orange suit. At first, she felt like an afterthought. "So I just get the leftovers, huh?" She asked. The team could tell she felt a little sad. The whole team, including Kat, felt a level of sympathy for the young woman. Kim felt their gaze on her and became very nervous, realizing the spotlight now shone on her. "I'm sorry... I don't mean to complain. I guess... I guess I just feel like a pretty big outsider with you guys. I've never been a zeo ranger." Surprisingly, it was Katherine who replied first.

"Actually, I'd argue you were the most important zeo ranger," she stated. "And, if I'm honest, I think your suit selection was the easiest."

"What do you mean?" Kim asked.

"When you and Tommy were still dating, he was confident," Adam replied. "He was focused, and encouraged us to new heights as a team."

"It felt like you were still with us," Rocky added. "I mean, when you were here, you were the heart and soul of the team. And with you gone, it was like your spirit was left with Tommy, to a degree. That is, until..."

"I broke up with him," Kim finished his sentence.

"You've always been the sparkplug," Tommy continued. "From before I joined the team to the time you left, you were always the emotional engine that moved us on to victory, time and time again."

"I think what we're all trying to say is the reason you have the soul stone is that it was the most obvious choice out of all of us," Tanya reassured her.

"Thanks," Kim replied. Just then, an alarm bell started to go off. Tony rushed into their huddle to tell them that the Red Skull and his army had just entered earth's atmosphere.

"No offense, but it's time to break up the pow-wow," He interjected. "It's time to see what you're made of."

"We're on it," Tommy replied. "It's morphin' time." The six made their way to their suits, where Tony showed them how to start the process of putting the suits on. In an instant, the six of them were suited up.

"Whoa, this is incredible," Rocky replied.

"No kidding, I feel the power of the crystal, but the weapons systems and tech are all in this too," Adam added.

"Hopefully it's pretty intuitive," Stark added.

"Hey, are you suiting up too?" Tanya asked.

"I thought you'd never ask." With a push of a button, the nanotech that he used once again bled from his chest piece, encasing his body with a state of the art suit. The six rangers stood in awe of what they just witnessed. "Well, are you guys just going to sit there and gawk?"

"Sorry... we've just never seen anything like that," Tommy answered.

"Well... you're about to see a lot of firsts. Let's go welcome Red Skull with open arms."

Captain America and a number of the remaining avengers flew in one of the quinjets over to the crash-site of what was presumably Red Skull. Barton and Romanoff piloted the jet towards the coordinates given to them, which was a fairly deserted part of central Pennsylvania.

"We're about ten minutes out, Cap," Barton shared.

"Good," he replied. Rogers wandered over towards Banner, and stood in front of him.

"What's up, Cap?"

"Any chance we'll see a re-emergence of our big, green friend?"

"I don't think so," Banner confessed. "Ever since he got beaten down by Thanos, he just won't come out."

"I never thought I would hear the words 'beaten down' in reference to what was done to the hulk," Rogers replied as he sat down next to his friend. "Then again, Thanos is a different threat compared to everyone else."

"Maybe," Banner replied. "But... something doesn't add up to me. Yes, Thanos is strong, but..."

"But what?"

"Look, I typically can't remember what I do as the Hulk. But, for some reason, ever since I turned into the Hulk on Asgard, it's almost like I had more control, like we were both steering the wheel. So, I have a few more memories than normal."

"What do you remember?" Rogers asked.

"Honestly, I think we took him lightly," Banner replied. "I think we were surprised."

"And now Hulk doesn't want to come out, because he was defeated," Rogers said, but Banner disagreed.

"When Hulk is defeated, he gets angry, he doesn't get scared... that's what's made this all the more confusing."

"Well... Hulk, if you're listening, we need you," Steve shared. "And we need you too, Bruce."

"Thanks," Bruce smiled.

"You'll be good running diagnostics from back here?" Steve asked.

"Yeah," Bruce replied. "As much fun as piloting an iron man suit was, I'll be glad to sit this one out and help all the iron men and women make sure they live through this.

"Prepare for landing," Barton cried out, interrupting the conversation. As the quinjet began its descent, they saw a smattering of large pods that crash-landed into the barren fields below. They surrounded a small spaceship that was nestled safely in the middle of them.

"Get ready," Steve commanded. Rocket, Thor, Wong, Loki, and Scott readied themselves, dispersing into the open once their ship landed. They were followed by Clint and Natasha, the former brandishing his katana.

The hatch of the middle ship began to lower to the grass, revealing the villain they expected.

"Schmidt," Steve muttered. Red Skull didn't speak at first. He approached the heroes almost tentatively, taking his time as he cascaded down the metal steps.

"I had heard of the so-called 'earth's mightiest heroes,'" Red Skull cackled. "It seems to me that you don't have many people to help you, do you Captain America? Not so mighty after all?"

"Try us and see," Thor boldly stated, but Steve put his hand up to stop him.

"You don't have to do this, Schmidt," Steve continued. "The earth has been devastated, half the population gone. We're still trying to pick up the pieces. You can help us do that."

"I'm not interested in a rebuilding project," Red Skull retorted. "I've tasted what power looks like. I've always wanted the power of the gods. To wield such power... well, if I do this task, I will have that power."

"From a couple of gods to someone who wants to be one, it's not all that it's cracked up to be," Loki grinned. As soon as he said the words, Red Skull's face became downcast.

"Loki... Thor... of Asgard. Sons of Laufey and Odin. Gods of Mischief and Thunder."

"The last time someone rolled up with an army lent from Thanos, earth's mightiest heroes stopped them," Loki continued, giving the rest of the crew a knowing look. "I suspect the same will happen once more."

"Enough talk," Schmidt muttered. He raised his hand, and in a flash, the hatches opened of the massive pods, and out charged thousands of black beasts. These outriders charged speedily at the small group of heroes in front of them, grunting and baring their sharp teeth and claws as they charged ahead.

"Here we go again," Rocket sighed.

Before they could respond, however, a wave of explosives pummelled the first wave of beasts. Red Skull looked up to see eight suited heroes flying in the sky.

"One thing we forgot to mention, Schmidt," Steve smiled. "It's not just us."

"Why don't you crawl back into that little spaceship of yours, and get on out of here," Tony broadcasted.

"So you brought some manned aircrafts, do you think I'm supposed to be impressed?" Red Skull taunted. He raised his hands signaling more of the beasts to flee their ships, chasing after the heroes. Unlike the battle of Wakanda, the heroes really had nothing to protect, so gone were the concerns of keeping Vision safe. This gave the avengers a lot more freedom just to eliminate the threat. And while the outriders were strong, they were no match for the fire power of Tony's new technological marvels, not to mention the power of Thor and his trusty axe, Stormbreaker.

It was a relatively short skermish, no casualities on the side of the heroes, which quickly forced Red Skull back into his borrowed spaceship.

"You may have won the battle, Captain America, but the war is just beginning," he warned. In a flash the villains left, leaving the heroes in the middle of the wilderness wondering what just happened.

"So... those were definitely the guys who killed the Avengers in the future," Scott began, with a hint of confusion laced in his voice. The statement was heard by the rangers, as well as Rhodey and Stark.

"Something's not right," Steve replied.

"We have the rangers of power, and the rabbit and I haven't left yet for Thanos," Thor explained. "It's a bit different this time around."

"Maybe," Tony added, his helmet disappearing. "He could have sent more troops in, but he gave up... why?"

"Maybe he knew we had him beat?" Tommy chimed in.

"Yeah, the eight of us flying in might have spooked him," Rocky affirmed.

"I don't think..." Before Cap could retort, a number of black SUV's began to circle the heroes. "Not now..."

"Ross?" Tony asked. Steve nodded.

"I had been calling him non-stop with no answer, figures he comes when we defend the world."

"Figures," Lang scoffed. However, the man who got out of the lead car was not Ross. In fact, it was someone they never expected to see alive again.

"Agent Coulson?" The surprise in Steve's voice captured the mood of all the original team, while the rest of them didn't know what to make of him.

"Captain Rogers," Coulson replied, sticking out his hand. They shook, only for Cap to grimace. "Sorry, sometimes I forget the strength of my grip, mechanical hand and all. Mr. Stark."

"Phil... I'm sorry, aren't you dead?"

"I was, but some advanced tech, a little blood of kree, a trip to Tahiti, and I'm back," he replied. "Same can't be said for Nick Fury. He was lost in the decimation."

"We thought that might be the case," Steve shared. "Ross?"

"He was lost too, which is actually pretty good for you, because that means the accords are currently on hold," Coulson replied. "I'm not one to wish ill on people but Ross, well, he was kind of a jerk."

"So, what does that make you?" Romanoff asked.

"Director of SHIELD," he replied.

"Fury killed off SHIELD when HYDRA infiltrated..."

"Captain, you don't think Fury would actually give up on his baby, do you?" Coulson interrupted. "Don't worry, we're not corrupt. We've got good people, at least what's left of us, and we can help you accomplish whatever is necessary in defending our planet. Starting with this." He handed Rogers a pager that had an odd red and blue graphic on the display.

"No offense Coulson, but all you just did was hold an antique to an older, breathing antique," Tony quipped. Steve rolled his eyes.

"It was the last thing Fury used before he faded away," Coulson replied. "The signal is two-way, connected to a woman that could help us get the people we love back."

"Is she part Kree?" Loki asked, stepping forward.

"No offense, I'm not exactly sure how I feel answering you," Coulson replied calmly. "Considering the whole tricking me into getting stabbed through the heart, thing."

"It's ok," Thor defended. "He's on our side."

"Yeah, that doesn't exactly ease my anxieties." Coulson turned back to the rest of the team. "She is part-Kree. In fact, she's the woman that your team is named after."

"What do you mean?" Steve asked.

"Carol 'Avenger' Danvers," Phil replied. "She was a pilot in the United States Air Force, until she was found by kree special forces. They took her because she absorbed large amounts of a powerful energy source."

"What power source would that be?" Tony asked.

"The tesseract."

"No offense, but I'm a little confused," Kim chimed in from behind them. She and Tommy walked up to join the other leaders, trying to help the rest of the rangers piece things together. "Kree, tesseract..."

"I can explain more soon," Coulson replied. "I'll have my team come to your headquarters, I'll fly with you in the jet."

"Think you can manage flying with me?" Loki grinned.

"I'm not afraid of you, Loki. You lack conviction."

"He's fun, brother."

 ** _To Be Continued..._**

 ** _Thanks for reading, feel free to leave a review!_**

 ** _\- Googz333_**


	12. Chapter 12

**Death Was Arrested - Chapter 12**

The group arrived back at the base, both with confidence and confusion. They had been successful in defeating Red Skull's first wave. It was the second battle that they faced together, and their forces kept growing. Tony Stark had been able to use his own technology from the future, and was able to engineer it to craft suits that could harness the power of both the zeo crystal and the infinity stones. However, their easy victory against Red Skull felt too good to be true. Scott Lang had said this was the same group that made the future a desolate wasteland. This couldn't be the same group, could it? That's what Captain Rogers, Coulson, Tony Stark, Tommy, and Kimberly were discussing in the main meeting room.

"I just don't get it," Steve thought aloud. "Lang said that in the future, the Avengers had to go into hiding. They had no way of defeating the threat of Schmidt, and that led to our destruction."

"But that was after Thor left earth, right?" Kimberly asked. "We weren't in the picture, Tony didn't return to the team until much later."

"It's possible that with Dr. Strange's intervention in the past, along with Scott's intervention in the future, we might be changing everything," Tommy replied.

"Or he's just biding his time," Stark countered, leading to the others looking at him intently. "Look, one thing we are overlooking here is that, at some point or another, we'll need to have part of our team leave to find Thanos and get the stones. If Thor, Loki, and our two lovebirds here leave with the rest of the ranger team, that leaves us fairly thin on resources."

"Even without Thor, you still have most of the original team that defended New York," Coulson replied.

"Not exactly," Tony replied sullenly. "Hulk won't come out."

"Won't come out?" Coulson asked. "What does that even mean?"

"Right now, it means we can only count on the brains of Bruce, not his braun," Rogers replied. "Look, it's becoming increasingly clear that we'll need to split up. The lives of billions, maybe even trillions, are in the balance. We need to go on the offensive."

"How exactly are we going to do that?" Tommy asked. "We don't even know where Thanos is." Suddenly the doors were thrust open, and Rocket scurried in and climbed onto the center table, Bruce Banner followed him in.

"I'm sorry, this is a no raccoon zone," Stark quipped.

"As much as I'd like to just slap the taste out of your frickin mouth, I have important information for you idiots," Rocket shot back. "When the not so jolly green giant over here traced the signature of your suit, it gave me an idea. I plugged in the frequency of the ravager ship that Nebula used after she separated from us, and I got a location."

"Is she ok?" Stark asked, desperation evident in his voice.

"Well, judging from ship diagnostics, it's damaged and inoperable," Rocket replied. "But, it's also on a planet."

"Hope it's not the planet of those gold fighters," Stark sighed.

"That's the thing, if you're sure that they were gold fighters, I'd bet a hundred credits that they were from Ayesha and her large assortment of morons. And if that's the case, I know the planet they live on, and it's a different planet from the one where Nebula's ship is at now."

"I don't understand why that would matter," Rogers said.

"Nebula was an adopted daughter of Thanos," Stark explained. "She hated him, and I don't get the sense that he was too fond of her either. While I'm not sure it's likely, there's a small chance that she was delivered to him."

"That doesn't exactly seem certain," Coulson replied.

"But it's the only lead we have," Tommy replied.

"How long do you think it would take for us to travel there?" Kim asked.

"With the modifications I've been making to your quin-jet, about 18 months," Rocket replied. "I keep trying to tell you, your technology stinks. You have no access to a hyper drive that can help you make jumps through space, no lightspeed drive, and there's no way to power one of those with any of the energy sources you have on this trash heap of a planet."

"What about the zeo crystal?" Tommy asked.

"Look, I get that the crystal is powerful, but it's not like it can fix every problem," Rocket quipped.

"I think I might have a solution," Coulson smiled. "But I'll need to take you across the country. It's where we housed project Pegasus."

"Let us go then," Thor appeared. "I will open the bifrost to transport us there at once."

Thor and Coulson were quick in their travels, gone for no more than thirty minutes. As they returned, the rest of the team noticed the massive engine that had landed with them outside as they transported back.

"What is that?" Rocky asked.

"It's a tesseract-powered rocket engine, designed to power a ship close to the speed of light," Coulson replied as the pair walked inside, the rest of the team gawking as they looked through the picture windows of the facility. "I thought if we could somehow hook it up to one of the quinjets, we would be able to get you guys out to Thanos pretty quickly."

"Was this designed during the development of phase two?" Steve asked.

"What's phase two?" Rocky asked.

"The development of weapons using the space stone," Coulson admitted.

"That sounds like something we could have used," Rocket quipped.

"Rabbit, do you think we could..."

"He's a damn raccoon, man," Rhodey interrupted, which illicited a much needed chuckle from the group. "Sorry... I just, you keep calling him rabbit..."

"I knew long ago that he wasn't a rabbit," Thor smirked. "I just kind of wondered how long you'd let me keep calling him that."

"Sometimes I don't know why I bother," Rocket sighed.

"Rocket," Thor continued. "Could you reconfigure the jet, allow it to use the power source we just brought?" He nodded and scurried off to work on the plane, while the others broke for a much needed break.

Steve wandered down to the holding cells where they had been holding Helmut Zemo. He peered behind the bars to find him sitting on the concrete with his back against the wall.

"I wondered when the great Captain America would show up at my cell," he smirked. "Others came to bring me food, keep me healthy. Did you draw the short straw this time?"

"I don't have any food for you," Rogers replied. "Only a question. Why the angry mob? Why the attack?"

"Why shouldn't I steal when I want. The world is ending, why should anyone care?"

"What would your wife think about that? Your child?" The question didn't phase Zemo. He merely smirked.

"You need something from me, don't you Captain?" Zemo's question frustrated the good Captain.

"You snuck into HYDRA's mission reports, do you know anything about Red Skull that would help?"

"I have nothing to tell you." They stared coolly into each others eyes, and without a word, Steve went upstairs.

In the other meeting room, Tommy and Kim were sitting on opposite ends of the couch. They had kissed, but had yet to talk about what that meant. It was hard to talk about a relationship when the fate of the universe was at stake. Yet, for some reason, as they had downtime, it was difficult for them to speak up.

"Lovebirds?" A voice asked from behind them. Without looking they knew it was Katherine, due to the accent. They turned to find a surprising grin on her face. "Don't think I missed that little quip by Tony back there."

"I don't know if I would call it..."

"Don't even try to explain this away, Dr. Oliver," Kat chided. "Look, it's been hard seeing you both. It's even harder seeing you both together. But I also know that the two of you together makes sense, and I don't hold anything against either of you."

"Kat..." Kimberly started.

"Look... I know you're just figuring things out again," Kat interrupted. "You don't know what to call it, you're afraid of who it might hurt, is it real or just a matter of circumstances. You don't have to explain. Just... I ask that when we go on our mission to do whatever the hell it is we're doing, please remember that I'm for you, but it might be painful for me."

"Thanks for telling us Kat," Kim replied. "We don't know what this is, but we'll be careful."

"We'll be focused on the mission," Tommy added. "The fate of the universe depends on it."

"That's all I needed to know," Kat replied. She left the two of them, who continued to sit in silence at opposite ends of the couch.

"We're really doing this, aren't we?" Kim asked.

"I mean, we said we would talk about us..."

"I mean going into space," she interrupted with a light chuckle. She paused and looked down at the ground for a minute, and then looked back at Tommy. "Of all the things I thought I would do with my life, coming out of retirement to save the universe wasn't one of them." She paused for a moment, before a tear began to form in her eye. "I miss them."

Tommy consoled her, but not without his own sadness beginning to manifest itself. The pair sat together, tears streaming down their faces for a long time, as the weight of emotions bore down on their souls.

 _ **To Be Continued...**_

 _ **Thanks for reading, don't forget to review!**_

 _ **\- Googz333**_


	13. Chapter 13

_**Author's Note: I apologize for how long this took to post. Honestly, I got to a point where I had some massive writer's block. I'm not sure when I'll finish this, but I do have the next couple of chapters almost ready. Sorry for the delay!**_

 **Chapter 13**

The whole team gathered by the newly remodeled spaceship, which now had the capability to make hyper-jumps thanks to project pegasus and some ingenuity from Rocket and Tony. Tommy, Kim, Rocky, Adam, Kat, and Tanya all stood on the bridge, alongside Thor, Loki, and Rocket. Standing opposite them was the rest of the team, with Captain America in the center.

"This is the day that will determine our legacy," Steve started. "In the future, the day Thor leaves is a turning point in the war here on earth. He was never heard from again, and we perished one by one at the hands of Red Skull. Today will be different. I fully trust that this is the one in a million chance that Dr. Strange predicted. You know your teams, you know your missions. No mistakes, no do-overs. Watch out for each other. This is the fight of our lives."

"He's pretty good at that," Rocket quipped.

"Yeah, way better than fearless leader over here," Rocky winked at Tommy.

"Thanks Rocko," Tommy sighed and rolled his eyes.

The space team piled into modified quin-jet, and Rocket fired up the engine. Katherine was the last one to walk up the ramp, and she looked back to Captain Rogers. Her eyes met his, and she gave him a small smile.

"Thank you," She mouthed to him, and then turned back, the ramp closing up while he watched her and the rest of the team leave. The jet flew off, quickly vanishing into the heights of the earth's upper atmosphere.

"After all this time, you're interested in a power ranger," Natasha chided.

"Romanoff, you need to stay out of my personal life," he quipped back. "Stark, how's communication looking?"

"Looks steady so far," Tony replied while he looked on with Rhodey, Banner, and Coulson at the data screens. "Judging off the ship's data, it looks like they're about to make the hyper-space jump, in three, two, one." Tony went silent for a moment, his gaze intensifying as he looked at the screen.

"Tony?" Steve prompted.

"Looks like they made the leap," Tony replied, looking at his old friend, prompting a sigh of relief. As Rhodey, Banner, Coulson, and Tony started to walk away from the monitor, the circuitry overloaded and caused a massive explosion, sending the four of them flying, and the rest of the team ducking for cover.

The quin-jet arrived in front of a massive, greenish orb. The rangers gawked as they stared at it's splendor.

"It's a planet..." Rocky whispered

"Of course it's a planet, what, you thought we were going to visit Thanos on a star?" Rocket quipped.

"Sorry, it's just... it's been a long time since we've been to space."

"And we haven't exactly seen a planet other than earth before," Adam added on.

"Well, here's a planet, now are we going to go and sacrifice ourselves to the hungry purple people eater, or we just going stare at a hunk of rock," Rocket soberly chided them.

"We're going to kill him properly this time," Thor growled.

"Rangers, suit up," Tommy commanded. The ship entered the planet's atmosphere and landed on it's surface. The ramp of the jet lowered and the rangers, Loki, Thor, and Rocket exited the ship, walking now on the planet's surface.

The rangers helmets were off, as part of the nanotech in their suits, and they looked to one another in wonder at the look of the planet. It was a fully functioning ecosystem, teeming with lush plant life. Bird-like animals graced the skies, foreign fruits and crops grew around them. "This is beautiful," Tanya whispered.

"It's easy for a planet to thrive when you kill half its population," Loki reminded soberly.

"This sanctuary of life was made by the blood that Thanos shed," Thor grimaced. He planted the butt of his axe on the ground in anger.

"Brother..." Loki sought to console, but Thor shrugged off his extended hand. "Rocket, any reading on the energy signature?"

"From the looks of things, we've got some traveling to do," he replied. "Remind me again, why didn't we park closer?"

"Element of surprise," Adam replied. "Even though these suits are powerful, we still need to find a way to power them with the infinity stones."

"And we're not exactly sure how to do that," Kat added.

"Someone want to tell me why we didn't think to figure that out before we traveled all the way to this god-forsaken craphole?" Rocket asked.

"Look, are you just going to complain the whole time?" Tommy shot back. "Or are you going to just keep mouthing off at everything we do?"

"I don't want to lose my only shot of getting my family back, due to a bunch of idiots starry-eyed at a planet and relying on some stupid power source that we don't even know can help!"

"Family?" Kim asked.

"Quill, Groot, Drax, the chick with the antenna, all of them. And I'm a little nervous that if you don't have a full plan, we'll miss our only chance to get them back!"

"Rocket, you're not the only one that's lost," Kim replied, moving towards him. She knelt down and placed her metal-encased hand on his shoulder. "We're here because we've all lost. We want what you want."

"I'm sorry..." Rocket replied sullenly.

"Don't be," she encouraged. Rocket flicked a tear from his eye, and then looked back at the device he was using to track the stones.

"We need to go this way," he shared, pointing onward.

"Let's go," Tommy replied. The rangers powered down, and they began what they anticipated was a long trek to where Thanos might be residing. Hours went by, and they sat down for a rest near a small stream, where they refreshed themselves with water and some of the plant life, which Rocket helped them know was good for eating.

"How close are we getting?" Adam asked.

"We shouldn't be much further out," Rocket replied. Tommy looked at the screen that the raccoon was looking at, and determined that from a human perspective, they were about a mile away from the energy signature.

"What I wouldn't give to finish this with the suit on and flying in," Tanya sighed. "My feet are pretty tired."

"I hear ya," Rocky replied. "Though, I really feel for Loki and Thor, what with the capes and cloaks and all. You guys must be hot."

"This is nothing, especially considering I took the full blast of a star a few months ago," Thor replied with a grin.

"Show-off," Loki quipped.

"Let's get moving," Tommy replied. "We've got a job to do." The team continued on until they made it to the edge of what looked like a farm. They moved around its perimeter, and they found a small hut in the middle of it, made with old wood and straw. They began to approach, before they heard an ominous voice.

"Stark doesn't even have the decency to show up," the voice boomed. The team looked around to find the purple behemoth known as Thanos behind them. "I underestimated you Loki. I could have sworn I said no resurrections."

"I guess you're more feeble than you thought," Loki chided, though Thor placed his hand on his chest, warning him to stop. Thanos smirked.

"Have you come to thank me?" Thanos asked.

"Thank you?" Rocket growled. "You killed my family you big sack of..."

"A small price to pay for salvation."

"Salvation?" Kim asked, wide-eyed.

"You refuse to see the big picture," Thanos sighed. "The universe needed correction. To survive, measures had to be taken."

"I think it's time the measures were taken against you," Thor challenged. Thanos smirked, brandishing his busted-looking gauntlet, the six gems glowing brightly. The rangers quickly suited up with their new armor, and the nine teammates began to circle around the mad titan.

"I've made friends, Asgardian. Friends who enjoyed seeing the cosmic scales tipped towards balance."

"And what sort of sadistic friends would those be?" Thor asked. Before he could say anything else, he was stabbed through the chest and thrown towards the other heroes.

"It can't be..." Loki stammered, looking at the being in front of him. She was clad in black, with pale white skin, and her head was adorned with black spikes, almost like antlers, yet far more sinister looking.

"Why are you surprised, darling? I'm Hela, the goddess of death." Thor staggered to his feet, wincing from his wound. Hela looked at him oddly, smirking at his face. "I seem to recall taking your eye the last time we fought."

"That crab-sack's your sister?" Rocket asked.

"Unfortunately," Thor replied. Rocket looked at Hela, and then to Loki.

"Thor, are you sure you aren't the adopted one?" Rocket quipped.

"Not the time, bud," Tommy cut him off. "It's morphin time." The six rangers were encased in their armor, which brought a slight smile to Hela and Thanos.

"Stark sends his iron-plated minions to stop me," Thanos said, disappointment dripping in his deep, powerful voice. He held up his gauntlet, which was mangled. The arm that it occupied was scarred, his normal purple flesh was blackened. But they still held the stones, which gleamed brightly.

"We're not his minions, Grimace," Rocky, the purple ranger, quipped.

"We're the Power Rangers, new and improved," Tommy, the green ranger, added. "We're going to stop you, and fix all the wrong that you've caused."

"What makes you think you can defeat us?" Hela smirked. She stuck out her hands and summoned to large blades, which she threw at the iron-clad heroes. They dodged and began the fight, the six rangers fighting Hela while Thor, Loki, and Rocket fired on Thanos. He blocked their attacks with his decimated gauntlet, absorbing the energy to fire a massive energy beam.

Hela used her never-ending supply of blades to use them as projectiles, continously firing them at the rangers. While at first they were able to evade her attacks, one by one they were struck down by the magical weapons. Only Adam remained, while the others staggered back to their feet, ducking and dodging Hela's vicious blades of death until he was close enough to land a blow. But as he swung a right hook, she flipped over him and slashed him across the back. Sparks flew as he landed with a thud on the lush ground.

Hela leapt in the air and readied one of her blades for a killing strike against the blue ranger, when an energy beam struck her and forced her to land awkwardly. She looked over towards her shooter, and it was the orange-clad Kimberly. "Get away from him," she growled. Hela gave a cool grunt, smirking at her opponent. Kim charged at her, but encountered another barrage of deadly blades. She evaded them with her gymnastic skill, and by the time she steadied herself, Hela was blasted by Tommy from her blindside.

Hela staggered to her feet to find the rangers composed and ready to fight. She cracked a small smile, with a chuckle attached to it. "I'll admit that you're a bit more capable than I thought. Still, I'd advise you to kneel."

"We'll never yield to you, or to Thanos," Tommy declared.

"Fine, but..." Hela was cut off by the growing power surge to her right. She and the rangers looked over to find Thor's axe, stormbreaker, blocking a blast from the fully powered gauntlet. Thanos screamed as he exerted as much as he could into the blast, but stormbreaker would not yield. Suddenly, the magically powered axe let off a massive energy surge, it's wave extending in all directions as far as the eye could see.

Loki and Rocket ducked for cover, while the rangers and Hela were all forced back, landing hard on the ground. Thor panted heavily, dropping his axe from the long entanglement between it and Thanos' main weapon.

"Guys..." Kim started. Tommy looked over to see that her orange chest piece was suddenly glowing.

"Kimberly..." He rushed over towards her and grasped hold of her arm as she continued to lay on the ground. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine... just... look." She pointed to his chest piece, which also shone brightly. "Tommy, don't let me go."

"Kim, what are you talking about?"

"I... I just..." In a flash, the pair vanished without a trace.

"What just happened?!" Tanya screamed.

"I don't know, but I feel really weird!" Adam cried. Suddenly, a massive surge of energy eminated from his chest piece, engulfing Thor, Rocket, and Loki. In a flash, they were gone, leaving the four rangers alone with Hela and Thanos.

"You..." Thanos grumbled. He looked at the four remaining rangers. "You have the powers of the stones."

"What do you mean?" Hela asked.

"That energy beam... it sent your brothers far away across space," Thanos replied. "How did you do that?"

"Adam, concentrate," Kat whispered through their coms. "You can get us out of here, we need to retreat." He looked over to find Katherine glancing in his direction.

"We're the power rangers zeo, that's how," Rocky defiantly challenged, getting into a fighting stance.

"Zeo..." Thanos whispered. "You have access to the zeo crystal." Before they could say anything else, Adam was able to stabilize a portal which engulfed the four rangers, and they vanished.

"Things have taken a turn," Hela muttered.

"The zeo crystal is one of the most powerful weapons in the universe," Thanos replied. "I don't know what they are up to, but whatever it is, they are far more equipped than I expected."

"What do we do?"

"We go find Stark." Thanos replied.

"Why not just use your little glove?" Hela asked. "You could just vaporize them."

"If I need to, I will," Thanos replied. "But the last time I used the stones, it nearly killed me. It's one of the reasons I enlisted Ayesha's and your help. But, I won't hesitate to do what it takes to heal the universe of its greatest ills."

 ** _To Be Continued..._**

 ** _Thanks for reading, don't forget to review!_**

 ** _\- Googz333_**


	14. Chapter 14

_**Death Was Arrested - Chapter 14**_

The lab inside the Avengers compound was in ruins. Computers and parts strewn everywhere, small fires were ablaze from the explosions that resulted from the malfunction.

"Tony," Steve panted as he looked among the wreckage. He found Stark's body, and as he touched him, he arose with a gasp. "You're okay, we're still at the compound."

"The circuits overloaded," Tony replied, looking around at the facility. "How is that possible?"

"Miscalculations?" Steve asked.

"Since when do I make those?" Tony quipped.

"Steve!" Natasha cried out on the over side of the room. "You need to come and take a look at this." Steve helped Tony up, and then ran over to where Natasha stood, along with Clint and Scott. When they arrived, they found a very odd surprise. Three unconscious bodies. Coulson and Rhodey were breathing, and were perfectly normal. But the shock came in the form of who, or what was in the place, of Bruce Banner.

"Well... that's one way for him to turn green," Tony quipped.

"What the hell is that thing?" Clint asked, referring to the green-skinned, pointy-eared alien that replaced Bruce.

"Maybe the director of SHIELD knows," Steve wondered. He tapped on Coulson's shoulder, and he began to stir. He turned towards the being in question and opened his eyes. After a second of taking the form in, he jerked up and let out a small scream, getting about five feet away, pulling his gun, and began to breathe heavy.

"What is this thing?" Steve asked.

"Something that's no longer supposed to be on this planet," Coulson said between breaths. He calmed himself down, and then slowly got to his feet, keeping his gun aimed on the alien. "It's a skrull. A shape-shifter. They were a race of aliens that were at war with the kree."

"Did you say shape-shifter?" Scott asked. "Are you all these... skrull-thingys?"

"Calm down, Thumbelina," Tony quipped.

"Mr. Lang has a point," Coulson replied. "We don't know if he's the only one, and if he isn't, we need to make sure we find them, now."

"We know for sure that Tony, Coulson, and Rhodey are good, at least," Natasha replied. "They didn't shift into these things when they were unconscious."

"We can adminster tests to the rest of you to make sure you're good," Coulson replied. "Fury told me a few things about Skrulls. They only know the peripherial memories of the person they shape-shift into. We'll need to ask you some questions to verify your identities."

"Let's tie him up, put out the fires, and then get to the questioning," Tony replied. "Nobody leaves this room. Coulson, man the door."

"Where am I?" Kimberly asked. She had stirred awake, and the first thing she noticed was that the sky, if you could call it that, was a deep orange. She sat up and looked around her to find that she was unmorphed, but still had the nanotech suit that Tony had gifted her in the wristband that she wore. Next, she saw that Tommy was also with her, and he too was beginning to stir.

"Tommy?" She asked, moving towards him and placing her hand on his shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," he grunted. "Where are we?"

"I don't know," she replied. "I felt this burning sensation in my chest after we got hit with that blast, like I was on fire inside. Did you feel that too?"

"No," Tommy replied. "Whatever brought us here must have been caused by your stone, and yours alone. Maybe I'm just here because I was in contact with you?"

"What if that's not the case? What if the others are here also? What if the stones..."

"If they're here, we'll find them," Tommy said confidently, trying to patiently lead her.

"Wherever here is," Kim muttered.

"Your stone is the soul stone," Tommy commented. "Every other stone seemed to have a very distinct ability, but no one ever told us what the soul stone does. Maybe it brings us here?"

"But what is this place?" Kim asked, a slight hint of anger coming through in her voice.

"I don't know. Let's see what's ahead."

The two unmorphed rangers picked a direction and began walking for what seemed like hours. Nothing but the odd orange sky was in their sightline, which started to become very discouraging for the pair.

Kim stopped for a moment, which forced Tommy to stop and turn around. "Everything okay?" Tommy asked.

"No, everything is not okay," she sighed. "We've been walking for hours, with no other living soul in sight, and not as much as a hill or valley or something new other than flat ground with this stupid orange sky."

"What's really bugging you, Kim? You're not one to lose heart like this." She paused as she thought on Tommy's question.

"I thought this was it," she replied. "I thought for certain we were going to get access to the stone's power, Dr. Strange was going to show up, and we'd have our friends back." Her eyes started to glisten as tears formed in her eyes. "I thought we'd get Jason and them back. Maybe I was wrong."

"You're not wrong, Kim," Tommy reassured her. He placed his arm around her and rubbed her shoulder, and she sank into his embrace. "Look, I don't know where we are going, but we're going to find whatever it is that we need to, and we're going to save the world, and with it, our friends." Kim wanted to fight his confidence, but she chose instead to sink more deeply into his embrace. While she was deeply sad, she also felt a comfort that she hadn't felt in a long time.

"As much as I don't understand why we're here, I'm glad I'm here with you," Kim whispered.

"Me too," he replied. They stood there for a few more minutes, and then she left his side.

"As much as I'd like to just stand here in the comfort of your side-hug, I think we should probably keep going. I'd hate for the raccoon to drop in out of nowhere and give us a lecture." The quip brought a smile to Tommy's face. "I hope he's ok, along with the rest of our friends."

"They will be." After a few more moments passed, they decided to continue their journey. It wasn't before long that they finally found the first landmark. It looked like a temple which was surrounded by a small pond on all sides. There was a bridge that led up to a door, and they started to run towards it, despite their lack of energy from having no food or water. They got to the door and began to pound on it as hard as they could. In a flash, they were off-balance and fell to the ground.

"That was unexpected," Kim replied as she picked herself up off the floor. As she looked closer, she realized they were no longer in front of the door of the temple, but rather inside it. She extended a hand to Tommy, helping him up.

"What happened?" He asked.

"I think we're inside of it?" Kim asked.

"As long as I've known you, Tommy, you are always showing up late," a voice said from the shadows. They looked over to where it came from, and out from the darkened wing approached a very pleasant surprise.

"Jason?!" Kim squealed. She ran over towards him and greeted him with an excited an embrace. Tommy followed and gave him a huge hug. After their warm embraces, they parted and then gave confused looks to the former red ranger.

"Don't take this the wrong way, because I'm glad to see you, but how are you here?" Tommy asked.

"I'm one of your guides," Jason replied.

"Guides?" Kim asked.

"He could only summon enough energy for one of us to come and help you on your journey to release us all."

"What are you talking about Jason?" Tommy asked. Before Jason could answer, a portal began to open in front of them, and a man wearing a dark green cloak with a red cape, and gray streaks in his black hair and mustache walked through it.

"Doctor Strange," Kimberly gasped.

"It's good to see you again Kimberly," Strange replied. "You and Dr. Oliver are a sight for sore eyes. Welcome to soul world."

"Soul world?" Tommy asked.

"When Thanos snapped his fingers, his desire was to wipe out half of all life in the universe," Strange explaned. "He never specified how. There's a certain wisdom to this stone compared to the others. It acts almost like their brain, or their consciousness."

"So when Thanos snapped half of the universe out of existence, the soul stone re-interpreted his demand," Kim realized.

"And it brought every soul here?" Tommy completed her thought with the question.

"Yes, inside the soul stone."

"How do we get everyone out?" Kim asked.

"We must journey to the core of the stone, and use the suit you possess to unlock the stone from inside," Strange replied.

"Why both of us then?" Tommy asked. "It seems clear that she's needed, but why do you need me?"

"You hold the key to making sure we can accomplish the task," Strange replied. "You'll see when the time comes."

After Coulson confirmed the identities of the remaining avengers, he, Tony, Steve, and Clint brought the skrull down to the holding cell where they had been holding Zemo. They opened the cell, and were shocked by who they saw.

"About time you found me," Bruce Banner replied.

"Are you really Bruce Banner?" Coulson asked. "Or are you another one of these things?" He pointed to the skrull they brought down with them.

"Ask me anything, I'll prove that I'm Banner."

"What was the first thing I ever said to you?" Tony asked.

"Your work is unparalleled, and I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster," Bruce sighed. "Which I can't exactly do right now."

"He's good," Tony replied, walking into the room and unlocking his restraints. "What happened?"

"I'm assuming that thing," he pointed to the alien that was now being placed in his cell, "became me. He got the jump on me, threw me in here."

"Zemo was never really Zemo," Steve added. "Let's wake him up." Clint walked in with a bucket of water and poured its contents over the alien's head, and he jolted awake, coughing uncontrollably for a moment before he could breathe properly again.

"All this time I thought you were Zemo," Cap started. "Now it makes sense why you weren't incensed when I mentioned your family earlier. You didn't know they existed, did you?

"You destroyed some state of the art technology, and nearly blasted the avengers to bits upstairs," Tony added. "You think we're going to take that lightly?" The shape-shifter cackled.

"Oh, I'm quivering with fear," he taunted.

"How many more of you are there?" Coulson asked.

"The rest of my race betrayed our cause," he explained. "I'm the only one left."

"And we're supposed to believe that?" Coulson asked. "Talos..."

"When Talos asked for help from the kree and your human race, he turned his back on our cause," The alien interrupted. "Everyone followed him, thought he would lead us to salvation. I never wanted refuge."

"What did you want?" Coulson asked.

"Revenge."

"What beef do you have with us?" Clint asked.

"What's a beef?"

"What he's asking is why are you upset with humans," Coulson explained. "We helped your people escape."

"I didn't want to escape, I wanted to reign over this pathetic waste of a planet," he replied. "I am Dorrek, the true king of the skrulls. And I will not be denied."

"So, let me get this straight, you shape-shifted into Helmut Zemo, infiltrated our base, planted an explosive in hopes of wiping us, who never even knew about skrulls until about an hour ago, just to get revenge?" Tony asked. "Not a great plan."

"Who said that was my plan?" Dorrek grinned. "Red Skull's army will wipe you out, and I will serve with him to reign this world. And as I fade into the background, I will kill him and assume his identity, and become the leader of this world, with the greatest army imaginable." Suddenly, an alarm began to ring throughout the facility, and he began to grin. "They're here." The group rushed out of the room, locking Dorrek in the cell behind them. They ran back up to the war room, where they convened with the rest of the team.

"We've got a big problem," Natasha replied.

"Red Skull?" Steve asked.

"How did you..."

"The little green man told us downstairs," Tony replied. Before they could say anything else, a blue portal appeared, and out came Kat, Rocky, Adam, and Tanya.

"Good work Adam," Tanya told him.

"What the hell are you guys doing back?" Tony asked. "Where's everyone else?"

"We don't know," Rocky replied.

"What do you mean you don't know?" Tony challenged.

"Somehow, Thor deflected the stones energy into the zeo crystal shards," Kat explained. "We have the powers of the stones, but in the process Kim and Tommy just disappeared, and then a beam of energy sent Thor, Loki, and Rocket somewhere across space."

"Wait, really?" Adam asked.

"That's what I heard Thanos say," she replied.

"While that's not the greatest news in the world, we need you now," Steve affirmed. "Red Skull is back, and we need your help."

 _ **To be continued...**_

 _ **Thanks for reading, don't forget to review!**_

 _ **\- Googz333**_


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15 - Death Was Arrested**

The remaining avengers and power rangers looked at the screen in the war room and saw that the whole of Red Skull's army had surrounded the compound. A number of the their massive pods began to crash into the earth's surface, creating a perimeter around them. Within minutes, waves of outriders exited the pods and descended upon the compound.

"Call it out, Captain," Stark said.

"Make sure the compound is reinforced, we're going to exit out the roof. This way we have the higher ground." He looked over at Bruce. "Go get the hulkbuster armor, you're joining us in this fight." He looked over to Wong. "I want you to provide cover for Clint. Barton, clear some space for us so that we can push the enemy back."

"You got it cap," Barton replied.

"Rangers," Rogers turned to them. "Follow Stark and Rhodes, take em' out in droves."

"Right," Adam replied.

"Natasha and I will try to make our way towards Red Skull. Hopefully, if we can stop him, we can stop all of this."

"What about me and my men, Cap?" Coulson asked.

"Help Barton from the roof, and help coordinate our attack. Let's get to work."

*Soul World*

Tommy, Kimberly, and Jason walked through Strange's portal, and found themselves in front of a large rock formation, surrounded by a faint orange glow. Strange had explained that while he didn't know exactly what they were facing, that it was imperative that Tommy was there with Kimberly. He also couldn't accompany them. The soul world suppressed his magic, so even a small portal consumed massive amounts of magical energy, so he stayed in the temple to preserve whatever magic he could.

"This is the core of the stone," Jason shared.

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised that everything is orange?" Kim smirked.

"Probably not," Jason replied, but no smile came. "We need to be careful."

"Why is that?" Tommy asked.

"Strange saw one path to victory over Thanos. It included something that went down here, but he's not sure what it was."

"He doesn't know the whole plan?" Kim asked, concern rising in her voice.

"He saw 14,000,605 scenarios," Jason replied. "He saw what we did to win, but all he knows about this is that Kim alone couldn't accomplish this task. Tommy is involved somehow."

"Well, let's go then," Tommy replied. His face was stoic as he looked ahead, determined to see this through. Tommy and Kim morphed, and left Jason behind them and approached the formation cautiously. As they got the orange hue that surrounded it, Kim reached out to touch it, and phased right through it. She began to walk through, while Tommy hesitated. He held his hand out, slowly moving his hand towards the threshold.

In an instant, Tommy was thrown back to the ground. Kim heard the thud of Tommy's body hitting the world's surface, and turned to see that he wasn't moving.

"Tommy!" Kim screamed. She used her repulsors to fly over towards him, landed by his side, and knelt to check on him, the nanotech helmet protecting her head bleeding back into her suit so she could see him more clearly. He was unresponsive, even to her touch. "Come on, Tommy, wake up." She looked over towards Jason, who looked concerned but made no motion towards them. "Jason, help us!"

"I can't," Jason replied. "I'm only a guide."

"Couldn't you have guided us better?!" She complained. "Why can I enter, but Tommy can't?"

"I don't know," Jason replied. "It could be that you have the powers of the soul stone, and Tommy doesn't? Regardless, as hard as this might be, you need to go and reverse the affects of Thanos' snap."

"Jason..."

"Kimberly, I know you care about him," Jason interjected. "But to save the rest of the world, you need to leave Tommy and go into the core."

"Fine," she muttered. "Will you at least watch him and make sure he's ok?"

"I will do the job that Strange assigned to me," Jason replied. "Now go."

Kim turned, frustration clearly read on her face before the helmet reappeared, and she flew back across the threshold that guarded the rock formation. She looked around, and looked back one last time at Tommy and Jason, before turning back to progress into the core.

Kimberly studied the rock formation, and noticed that to her right there was an entrance into the rock formation. She approached the entrance and snuck into it, surprised to find a very well lit passageway. She wandered down the corridor, which was an immaculate hallway. It was not rock inside, but cream-colored tile on the floor, with bright white walls, not even a scratch lined them. These walls were adorned with elegant torch posts that would light up as she moved past them, lighting her way forward.

She made it to a set of large double doors at the end of the hall. They were painted black, with two large handles in the middle of them. She hesitated for a moment. _'_ _They're counting on me,'_ she thought to herself. She pushed opened the doors, and walked into a large room that did much more to resemble a cave than any other part of the interior. Its rocky walls were a deep brown, and its floor was nothing more than the dirt and dust that had covered the rest of soul world. Yet, at the opposite side of the double doors, a part of the wall was adorned with a shimmering silver plate. In the center of it was an orange stone that shined as brightly as the sun.

"That must be the core," Kim whispered to herself. As she got to the middle of the room, she heard the doors shut behind her. She frantically turned, finding no one there. "Weird."

"I didn't expect you to make it this far," a eerily familiar voice said. Kimberly turned to find a much younger Tommy Oliver standing in her way. "What? You weren't expecting me?" The shock on her face was telling.

"You're not the same Tommy outside," Kim replied, almost devoid of emotion. "You're... you're young." Tommy smiled.

"And you're still hopelessly holding out that I'll take you back," he sneered. "A child's dream."

"You're not Tommy!" She fired back. "What are you, some sort of enemy projection to protect the core?"

"You've gotten smarter with age, I'll give you that," Tommy quipped. "The soul world guards its core with two trials. To undo what Thanos has done, you must defeat both of them. The first is to face your worst fear."

"And you think you're my worst fear?" Kim asked. "News flash Tommy, future you all ready told me he cared about me, so if you think you can play on my insecurities..."

"Oh, your fears are far worse than that, my dear," he cackled. "What you've done to me over the past several years changed me, dear Kimberly." The statement rocked Kim to the core.

"What are you talking about?"

"Your letter destroyed me," he reminded. "I thought I could escape the pain with your pink replacement, but all it did was force me to go inward. I was depressed, I didn't care about anything or anyone."

"Hayley helped you," Kim argued. "That's what you said..."

"It's a lie," Tommy replied. "The version of me that's with you now, he's too scared to tell you the truth."

"What truth?" She asked.

"You set me on a path to destroy everything." The gaze in his eyes shifted, from focused to psychotic. He smirked, and then smiled, and then gave an evil laugh. "You set me on a path to return to what I was always supposed to be."

He held out his hand, and a twisted looking blade appeared.

"The sword of darkness," Kim gasped.

"That's right, pink ranger," Tommy challenged. "Or should I say, orange ranger. Are you ready to be destroyed once and for all, by the evil green ranger?" Suddenly, the sword encased the youner Oliver into a green light, and in a moment the sight before her felt all too familiar. The evil green ranger approaching her, brandishing his weapon, and cackling in a manner that left her to quiver with fear.

She gave herself a mental shake, and pressed the chest piece in her armor so that it would encase her fully, and quickly leapt in the air and went to throw a punch, but Tommy dodged it. He sliced her across her back, which sent her flying across the room, and her suit spraying sparks.

"Face it Kimberly, you can't defeat me," Tommy cackled. She quickly got up and fired from her hand repulsors, but he deflected them with his sword. He then charged at her, but she flipped over him and tried to hit him with a back kick, but he blocked it and took a swipe at her once more with his blade. She ducked under it and plunged her fist into his midsection, then hitting him with her elbow in the head.

He staggered, and Kimberly propelled herself and kicked him in the face. He fell to the ground, writhing in pain, his armor no longer protecting him. He dropped his sword, which Kimberly quickly picked up and held to his throat, her foot on his chest. She tightened her grip on the blade, her arm began to shake. Her helmet retracted, and now she looked him in his eyes.

"Do it," he goaded her. "Kill me." Sweat dripped off her forehead, she blinked a couple of times, and then relaxed her arm, bringing the sword to her side.

"I'm not going to kill you," Kim replied. "I've seen the man you've become, Tommy. While I made mistakes with you, I didn't set you on a path towards destruction. I don't have that power."

"You caused my mental breakdown," He challenged.

"No," Kim shot back. "You made choices that led you there. And you've owned them as your own mistakes. I don't need to feel guilty for them."

He groaned, and then slowly faded away into nothingness. The sword that she held in her grasp also disappeared, and she looked forward to see the stone inside the silver core. "He said there were two trials," she said aloud. "Where's the second?" She looked around, wondering what might be coming next, but nothing appeared. "Time to get everyone back." She grabbed the stone, and then ran back through the hallway. It felt like an eternity, as anxiety crept in, wondering where the second trial would be. But she exited out of the rock formation with no sign of anything resembling a trial.

She saw the orange hue that signaled where the protective force-field was, and beyond it saw that Tommy was slowly stirring. Jason was helping him up, and she sighed a breath of relief, knowing that he was ok. She was closing in on escaping when she saw it. A flash of green on her left. She planted her foot on the ground and abruptly stopped running, and turned to see a young, green-skinned, girl. She slowly walked towards her, and as she got closer she crouched down to see her face. She saw that she had been crying, and Kim's heart filled with compassion. She touched her chest piece to retract her armor, and she knelt down fully to be on her level.

"What's your name, little one?" Kim asked.

"Gamora," the girl replied.

"Why are you sad?" Kim asked her.

"Because of what I must do," Gamora replied. Before Kim could react, Gamora pulled out a double bladed knife and thrust it into Kimberly's heart. "I'm sorry... but for me to live, no one else can."

Jason and Tommy looked on in horror, and Tommy got up and ran towards Kimberly, screaming. However, he could never get close enough, because of the orange-hued force field that guarded him from her. Kimberly clutched her wound, blood gushing from her chest and dripping from her mouth. She gasped for air, but none came. She crumpled to the ground, her eyes locked with Tommy's as long as they could before she succumbed to death.

 **To Be Continued...**

 _ **Thanks for reading, don't forget to review!**_

 _ **\- Googz333**_


	16. Chapter 16

_**A/N: This has been on the back burner for a number of reasons. One was I felt like I wrote myself into a corner, and two, I didn't have time to really think outside of it. I'm close to ending the story, though I'm not all that satisfied. However, I wanted to complete it, because I know one of the more frustrating things for a fanfic reader is to read something that stays incomplete.**_

 _ **Death was Arrested - Chapter 16**_

*Avengers Facility*

"Leviathan incoming!" Coulson shouted over his coms. Tony and Rhodes flew to where the massive entity flew. It was long, and had mechanical scales surrounding its body.

"Friday, any way we can destroy this thing without flying inside of it?" Tony asked his virtual assistant.

"It would take a lot more effort," Friday replied.

"Whoa whoa whoa, fly inside of that thing?" Rhodey asked.

"Don't worry about it guys," Ant-man commented over the coms. "Here I come." They heard a loud thumping, and turned to see that Ant-man was not the size of an ant, but now the size of a giant.

"Finally, he uses that when he's on our side," Rhodes quipped. Lang ran up to the large alien and connected with a powerful right hook, having it land with an powerful thud.

"Lang, that was great," Captain America said over the coms. "Just be careful you don't squash us as you're running full speed ahead."

"Sorry Captain America!" Lang apologized.

On the ground, Steve and Natasha continued to make their way to ground zero, which was where all of Red Skull's ships had landed. Adam repeatedly phased in and out using the power of the space stone to help clear a number of their attackers, while Tanya used the reality stone to hide Steve and Natasha from the sight of the outriders.

A number of the dog-like aliens surrounded Bruce Banner, who was wearing the hulkbuster armor to aid him in the fight. However, he was being overrun, with no less than eight outriders toppling him over. However, he was quickly freed from their grasp when Rocky came forward and used the power stone to send them all packing with one punch.

"Thanks," Bruce grunted as he picked himself up.

"Don't mention it," Rocky shrugged. "Keep your head high, and keep plugging away."

"Thanks, but, doesn't it seem like there's too many of them?"

"Maybe, but if we keep fighting, their forces will thin out eventually." Another outrider scurried towards them and tried to take them by surprise, but Rocky swung a nasty right hook at him, and he was propelled backwards, knocking a dozen others back as well. He ran and leapt into the air and pounded his fist into the ground next to them, which vanquished the beasts, and reverberated throughout the surface area around him, knocking several hundred others down as well.

Katherine used the power of the mind stone by blasting a number of the outriders, but in a moment of rest, she had an idea. "Guys, we could win this a lot easier if we used the space stone to help Steve and Natasha."

"What are you talking about?" Tony asked.

"The space stone allows us to use portals, right?" Kat reminded them.

"Why didn't I think about that?" Tony wondered aloud.

"You know, this means we could have done that with Wong too, right?" Rhodey quipped.

"Rhodes..." Tony started.

"Oh, I'm not mad at you buddy," Rhodes interjected, blasting a number of the airborne attackers out of the sky. "More just poking fun at our Captain's lack of a good plan."

"Thanks Rhodes," Captain America quipped sarcastically, as Tanya continued to use the reality stone to conceal them.

"I'm going to have to lift the protection of the stone so that Adam can find us," Tanya informed them. "You guys ready to fight?"

"We can do this all day," Rogers replied, to which Natasha rolled her eyes. Adam quickly appeared in front of them, and then created another portal which Steve and Natasha jumped through. They landed behind Red Skull, who only had a few henchmen protecting him. Steve flung his shield to take out the three on the left, while Natasha jumped and did a head-scissors take down on one, and used her wrist tasers to take out another.

Red Skull moved to attack, but Adam and Tanya appeared to surround the mastermind. "It's over Schmidt," Rogers commanded. "Call off the dogs." He was speechless. "Call them off!"

"Do you have what it takes to kill me, Captain?" Red Skull taunted. Before the heroes could make a move, a thick blade impaled him, suprising those surrounding him. They looked to find Thanos and Hela.

"That's the other one we saw," Adam gasped.

"Thor's sister?" Rogers asked.

"Seems like a real charmer," Romanoff quipped.

"I'm willing to do what you refuse to," Hela grinned. Thanos lumbered towards them, each step creating a noticeable thud. He stood side by side with Hela, gauntlet in one hand, and a double-bladed sword in the other.

"You destroyed half of all life, what else do you want?" Steve asked.

"I want my work to be left undisturbed," Thanos replied.

"That's not going to happen," Tanya challenged.

"You may have the power to harness the reality stone, but you are ill-equipped to use it," Thanos growled, and then shot a blast of energy at her and Adam. He grabbed Tanya and teleported with the power of the space stone, evading the blast. Captain America threw his shield at the mad titan, but he batted it away. As the shield returned to him, Hela threw her massive blades at both he and Natasha, but he grabbed Natasha and placed the shield between them.

Suddenly, both of the foes were under heavy fire, as small missles exploded around them. Iron Man landed hard in front of them, his arms raised, ready to fire his weaponry. Beside him appeared the four remaining rangers, using the portals created by the space stone.

"Is this the part where we call out our spirit animals and go into fighting poses?" Stark quipped.

"Probably not the best time, bud," Adam clapped back.

"Finally," Thanos smirked. "I've been waiting for you, Stark. I thought you would visit me, but all I ended up getting was your zeo-crystal infused clones."

"Why were you waiting for me?" Stark asked.

"You think the wizard is the only one smart enough to look forward in time? One in fourteen million, six-hundred and five. Does that ring a bell?"

"What's he talking about?" Katherine asked.

"You used the time stone," Stark realized.

"Somehow, you always seem to be the one that has the greatest chance to ruin my plans," He smirked. "When the Chitauri invaded, I was sure that a second infinity stone would be in my grasp. Instead, I lost the one I had. Because of you. As I gazed into the future, you were always the one providing the most resistance. Suits powered by the zeo crystal. Using time travel. It didn't matter the alternate reality, somehow it was always you leading the way, never giving up."

"Yep, we're all kinds of stubborn," Stark shot back.

"That will cost you." Thanos raised his gloved hand and fired a devastating blast of energy, but the heroes evaded the blast. The five of them then went into battle against Hela and Thanos, blasting their way in hopes of stopping them.

*Soul World*

Tommy's knees buckled as he saw Kimberly take her last breath. Jason placed his hand on his shoulder, but Tommy forcefully brushed it off. He had just gotten her back, hope was beginning to kindle once more, how could this be how it ended.

"Tommy, think!" Jason shouted, but Tommy fired back.

"Don't tell me how to think!" Tommy choked out. "You have no idea..."

"Why did Strange want both of you?" Jason interjected. Though tears continued to trickle down Tommy's face, he slowly looked up towards Jason, sadness and anger giving way to hope. He steadied himself as he stood up, and looked down at his chest piece.

"The time stone," he muttered to himself. He held out his hand towards Kimberly, and activated the time stone, shifting time back to when she was running out of the cave.

Kimberly was closing in on escaping when she saw it. A flash of green on her left. She planted her foot on the ground and abruptly stopped running, and turned to see a young, green-skinned, girl. She slowly walked towards her, and as she got closer she crouched down to see her face. She saw that she had been crying, and Kim's heart filled with compassion. She touched her chest piece to retract her armor, and she knelt down fully to be on her level.

"What's your name, little one?" Kim asked.

"Gamora," the girl replied.

"Kimberly, run!" She heard the voice, but it was muffled. She couldn't fully make out what was said, only that it sounded like Tommy. She turned for a moment to see that he was standing, which was a relief. She stood up and walked towards the force-field, but then heard a sudden movement behind her. She turned to see the little green girl lunge at her with a knife. She defended herself by using her momentum against her, and quickly getting her armor back on.

"You can't leave here!" Gamora pleaded, wielding the knife threateningly. "If you leave, I'll never get back home!"

"I'm sorry," Kim replied, allowing the nano tech helmet to withdraw into her suit. She saw the fear and sadness in Gamora's eyes, and her heart ached. "I'm sorry that you're trapped here. But I was tasked with saving the whole universe. I can't let them all down."

"You're going to abandon me?" Gamora whimpered, casting her glance downward. "I'm only a child." The words nearly destroyed Kimberly. Her whole rangering career was devoted to helping the helpless. To making sure life survived. And though she knew her leaving would save billions, she was now being asked to save the life in front of her.

"What do you need to be freed?" Kim asked.

"A soul for a soul," she replied. The admission crushed Kimberly. She knew what she had to do, but she didn't like it.

"The second trial," she whispered. She looked at the young girl, who at this point had dropped the knife to her side. "I'm sorry." Her helmut reappeared, and she turned and walked away.

"No... no!" Gamora screamed, sobbing. What she didn't know was that Kimberly walked away from her with tears in her eyes as well, knowing that she could have laid down her life for Gamora. She passed through the barrier to find Jason and Tommy standing there waiting for her, and the moment Tommy saw her pass through, he hobbled his way over towards her. Their helmets off, he embraced her and kissed her briefly, before allowing her to move her head to be on his shoulder.

She clutched him tightly, her body shaking as she sobbed into his chest. A tear slid from Tommy's eye, as Jason watched the pair together.

A few moments passed, and then Kimberly sighed, her tear-stained eyes looked into Tommy's.

"What happened in there?" Tommy asked weakly. Kim pursed her lips together, the reminder causing her to re-imagine her anguish.

"My worst fears," she replied. Another tear slid down her cheek ever so slowly, and she looked away. She broke their embrace and turned back to the force field that once contained her.

"Did you get it?" Jason asked. Kim didn't answer. "Kim?" His forceful tone interrupted the thoughtful moment.

"What?" She asked.

"Did you get it?" She held up the stone that she had retrieved. Jason sighed, and his lips grew into a small grin. "All right, let's get you back to the wizard, hopefully there isn't much left to restore everything back to normal."

"Normal?" Kim asked harshly. "Normal? You think just because you guys get to come back to life, everything's going to go back to normal?!"

"Kim..." Tommy tried to calm her, but she brushed his hand away. She gave a searing gaze into her former teammate.

"You think that it was easy to watch you and the others waste away, leaving me alone? You think it was easy to see, and be tempted, by the lie that I destroyed Tommy's life? To refuse to help a child, and leave her to die so that others might live!? You think everything's going to go back to normal after this?!"

"Kim..."

"Don't 'Kim' me, Jason Lee Scott!" She shouted. "You think it's easy to watch your loved ones die?"

"No," Jason affirmed. "It's not. Is it, Tommy?" Kim looked over towards him to see his head fall.

"I don't understand..."

"We saw you die," Tommy replied. "We couldn't see everything all that clearly, but the child that you turned your back on..." Tommy couldn't finish, the memory still so fresh and so painful.

"She killed you," Jason finished. "Tommy used the time stone to bring you back, alter history."

"That's why you yelled for me," Kim realized.

"Look, I know this isn't going to be a perfect reset," Jason added. "I don't even know if this is going to work. Even if we get everyone back..."

"What?!" Tommy interjected. "What do you mean 'if we get everyone back?'"

"Strange explained it right?" Jason asked. They nodded their heads. "one in fourteen million, six-hundred and five. There's still a chance that everything that has to line up doesn't line up. We could get back, and Thanos snaps us back into oblivion. Or maybe his outriders wipe out the whole planet. We just don't know."

"Then why so hopeful?" Kim asked.

"I guess... I was just grateful that something went right," Jason confessed. She continued staring at the former red ranger, bitterness threatening her being, when she felt Tommy's hand rest on her shoulder. Even with the armor encasing their bodies, the thought of him embracing her eased her soul.

She looked up at him to find his tear-stained face. "I thought I lost you back there," Tommy confessed. "I didn't realize how lost I've felt without you. Even in the midst of all we've been through over the past several weeks, you somehow have helped me make sense of the chaos."

"It has been chaotic," Kim mused.

"Not just since Thanos," Tommy replied. "I'm talking about my life. I never knew how much my life felt incomplete without you."

"Tommy..." He leaned to kiss her, but they suddenly appeared back into Doctor Strange's quarters.

"You succeeded," Dr. Strange addressed them. They quickly broke apart and stared at the master of they mystic arts.

"You didn't say what the cost would be," Kim scoffed. "To write the death sentence of a child."

Strange's countenance fell. "No... I didn't. There's a lot I haven't told you. Or to any of you, for that matter."

"Would you like to give us any more information?" Tommy fought for her.

"It's not a matter of desire, Dr. Oliver," Strange replied. "I've seen this scene play out millions of times. Trust me, if I tell you, we'll fail."

"What do we do to get back?" Jason asked.

"This is going to take a minute," he replied.

 _ **To Be Continued...**_

 _ **Thanks for Reading, Feel free to drop a Review!**_

 _ **\- Googz333**_


	17. Chapter 17

_**Death Was Arrested – Chapter 17**_

*Upstate New York, Avengers Facility*

The combination of Hela and Thanos proved most formidable. The remaining rangers fought against the goddess of death, while Tony and Steve battled with the mad titan. Natasha was hit with an energy blast, and was off to the side recovering.

Steve threw his shield at the gauntlet wielding foe, but he used the reality stone to warp it around him, and then sent it flying back into the Captain. Thanos then leapt in the air, gauntlet on one hand, double bladed sword in the other, and he went to plunge his sword into the Captain's heart. But quickly, the good captain was carried out of harms way. Tony had propelled himself to rescue his friend. They crash-landed, a good 100 feet from the battle. Tony stuck out his hand to help Steve up. But before Steve could grab it, the large blade that Steve evaded protruded through Tony's armor, lifting him high, blood gushing from the wound and seeping from his mouth.

"TONY!" Captain America shouted. Thanos threw him off his blade, and he landed with a thud and rolled onto his back, gasping his final breaths.

"I would have preferred to keep you alive, Stark," Thanos replied. "You're like me, a survivor. But I can't let you undo what I've done."

"Too late..." he gasped, blood spilling out of his mouth.

"What do you mean?" Before Thanos could get anymore out of Tony, they heard a loud roar bellow through the air. As soon as he turned in the sound's direction, a green fist plowed into his face, sending him flying through the air. Steve and the wounded Tony were surprised to see that Dr. Banner had once more become the Incredible Hulk, his eyes blood shot as he stared into theirs. The once-thought mindless beast knelt to the ground. Small, frustrated grunts came and went, and giant tears colored his face as he gazed upon his friend's dying body.

"Bruce..." Tony mumbled.

"Banner loved Stark," Hulk boomed. "Hulk loves Stark. Stark believed in Hulk."

"I did..." Stark shared. "And I still do. I believe in both of you."

"Natasha, do you read?" Steve asked over the coms.

"Affirmative."

"Get over here and help me cover Tony. Hulk!" He turned to face Steve. "Smash." The command was heeded, as he let out a loud roar and headed straight for Thanos. Thanos had recovered by that point, and showed off his gloved hand.

"The last time we fought, I only had one infinity stone," he taunted. "Do you really think you can best me when I have all six?"

"You hurt Hulk's friend!" Hulk cried. "You monster! Hulk destroys monsters!"

"I only do what others do not have the will to!" He fired an energy beam from the power stone, but Hulk dodged it and lunged at the mad titan and landed a strike. Hulk landed a few more blows, but Thanos used the reality stone to warp Hulk's perception. All Hulk saw were hundreds of heads, like looking through a kailedescope which revealed more and more heads and bodies. Before Hulk could respond at all, he was run through by two massive blades through his shoulders. He screamed in pain, the fake perception giving way to the reality of Hela, who had thrashed the rangers and come over to help Thanos take care of the big green menace.

"We have unfinished business darling," she grinned wickedly, stroking the whimpering beast on the chin.

The rangers and Captain America rallied towards Hulk as the battle continued to rage behind them. Tony was dying, Hulk was easily dispatched, hope seemed lost.

"I'll give you credit," Thanos started. "You have heart. But now you must yield. Otherwise, I will simply choose to snap this planet away."

"We won't give up," Rogers grunted. "We won't yield, or kneel, to anyone." He looked over at Katherine, who was encased in the mind stone armor, and then back to Thanos. "We're getting our friends, and our families, back. And you will yield."

"Inspiring speech, but I think you'll just have to die instead," Hela threatened. Before she could do anything, a large flash of light filled the area.

"What's going on?" Steve asked. "Can anyone see anything?" But no one answered. The bright lights oddly weakened his body, to the point where he could not continue standing. The light blocked everything from Steve's sight. And yet, it did not hurt his eyes. The array of light was both warm and welcoming, and yet terrifying all at once.

"Natasha? Coulson? Rhodey? Katherine?" Still silence. "Tony?"

He tried to steady himself, but he still felt that the light was too great to overcome. "What is going on?" He muttered to himself.

It was then that he heard it.

"Yimbambe! Yimbambe! Yimbambe!"

"It can't be..." He thought. The white light began to dissipate, and he looked down to find his feet planted on green lush plains. He looked over his shoulder to find Natasha still tending to Tony. But their eyes were locked elsewhere. Steve followed them to find what his ears had heard before.

"T'Challa?" Steve asked, confused as he saw the Wakandan King alongside his sister Shuri and warrior Okoye.

"Hello my friend," he replied, placing his hand on his shoulder.

"I don't understand," Steve shared, puzzled by his appearance. Before he could say anything else, a winged fighter landed beside him. He looked to find Sam Wilson, who stood before him just like before.

"Sam," he smiled, embracing him in a hug.

"Don't get sappy on me now Cap," he joked.

"Steve, are you seeing this?" Rhodey asked over the coms. Steve looked beyond to see other fighters than there were in their first battle in Wakanda. He rushed over when he found a familiar face.

"Queens!?" He shouted.

"Captain America?" Peter Parker replied. "What are you doing here? What am I doing here? What is this place? I was in space, I was with Mr. Stark, and now... what's going on?"

"You've stopped nothing!" Thanos shouted as he and Hela advanced towards their position, countless outriders and other henchmen flanking them. The heroes stood and watched as he gave a wicked grin. "You've reversed my plans for a moment, nothing more. But now, I snap my fingers, and all goes back to the way it was."

"No!" Steve shouted, but it was too late. He snapped once more, but nothing happened. Thanos turned his glove over, and to his dismay, none of the stones were contained in the glove.

"What?!"

"You sought the infinity stones without truly ever understanding them," a voice shouted in the distance. Steve and the others looked to find the six rangers flanking a mysterious wizard, who undoubtedly must have been Dr. Strange. "When you snapped us away, you locked us within the Soul Stone. What you didn't realize, is that we could manipulate it, change the course of history. Now, we have the power of the stones. Surrender now, or fall to the might of the heroes that wield them."

The mad titan merely grinned. "I must say, wizard, you saved your greatest trick for now. But I will not be denied my destiny. The universe demands balance, and that is what I seek to give it. All you have done is keep the universe from thriving."

"Thriving?!" Kim spoke up, her helmet retracted so that they could see her face. "You murdered trillions!"

"And I will again. You think that you six can stand in my way. The Goddess of death stands by my side, along with my armies, and the Sovereign coming to our aid."

"Did he just say the Sovereign?" Peter Quill, at the other side of the group, responded. "You enlisted the help of that psychopath!"

"It doesn't matter who's helping you, Thanos," Steve resolved. "We're not letting you take the stones."

"Yimbambe!" T'Challa screamed out

"Yimbambe!" The Wakandan warriors cried in response.

"So cool," Kimberly whispered, to which only Tommy could hear.

"Do all the yelling you want," Thanos smirked. "You say wizard that I don't understand the stones? It doesn't matter how many of you come after me. Avengers, Power Rangers, Soldiers, it doesn't matter. In my quest for balance, it's never been personal. But I have to admit... I'm going to enjoy it. I'm going to enjoy destroying your crummy planet and watching half of you vanish in front of your loved ones once more."

"Sounds like you're no longer merely a survivor," Strange challenged. "Congratulations, you've gone full madman."

"We're not going to let you destroy the earth!" Tommy challenged, as the six rangers moved into fighting positions, surrounding the master of mystic arts. Suddenly they heard a number of explosions above them. They looked to find a vast number of small ships firing on the Wakandan shields.

"Is that..." Steve started.

"The Sovereign?" Quill finished the sentence. "Yeah, we're screwed."

"We're fine," Tommy promised.

"Who are you guys again?" Quill quipped.

"I'm Captain America, he's the leader of the power rangers, and together we're the Avengers."

"There's more of you?" Mantis appeared, asking.

"Look, we need to act fast," Steve replied, disregarding the comment. "T'Challa, how long can the shields hold?"

"With that amount of ships, not long."

"Sam and Rhodey, get ready to take your fight to the skies, alongside the rangers." Tommy nodded and turned, but Steve grabbed his arm, stopping him. "You have the time stone, right?"

"I do."

"I need you to come with me," Steve pleaded. He gave a few quick directions, and then the battle waged on. Steve and Tommy arrived to find Tony continuing to gasp for air.

"Oh no," Tommy sighed.

"Can you use the time stone to turn back the clock? Would that heal his body?" Steve asked.

"It's worth a shot." Tommy held out his gloved hand, and directed his fist towards Tony. He continued to gasp, choking on his own blood, straining to look at the green-clad hero. Suddenly, magical green rings appeared, surrounding Tommy's hand. He opened his hand and began to turn it counter-clockwise ever so slightly. What he and Steve saw was nothing short of miraculous. Tony's wounds evaporated. The blood that stained his face was gone. Tommy stopped, the rings disappeared, leaving the three in shock.

"Tony?" Steve stammered.

"Yeah!?" Tony nearly shouted. He coughed, but no blood came up from his throat. "What the... how..."

"We turned back time for you," Tommy answered. Tony looked around him realizing they were in a different place.

"Where the hell are we?"

"Wakanda," Steve replied.

"How the..." Tony's voice trailed off. He looked to see the battle waging around them, and what surprised him was who he saw. Sam Wilson. T'Challa. Stephen Strange. "You did it," he said, looking up to Tommy.

"We did it," Tommy replied, placing his arm on Tony's shoulder. Tony looked over to Steve, who had a smirk on his face. Before they could say anything, however, they were under attack from a couple of outriders. They began to ready their weapons, when the pair of alien fighters were restrained. They looked to find a very familiar figure. Well, at least familiar to Steve and Tony.

"You two need a leash!" Peter Parker shouted in mock bravado. He used his strength to hurl them away from the others, the force of his throw knocking over several other fighters. He rushed over and took off his mask. "Mr. Stark, boy am I glad to see you. You know how we were in space? And we were fighting Thanos, and then this really weird thing happened, and then there were a bunch of us just in this really weird orange room, and then..." He didn't have time to finish, because Tony enveloped him into a hug, with a tear coming to his eye.

"I missed you kid," He whispered. The moment was interrupted by a loud crash, as the Sovereign's mini-spaceships blasted through the Wakandan shields.

"Hey, you guys gonna stop hugging and help us out!?" Peter Quill quipped from a distance.

"Let's do this," Tony smirked. His nanotech helmet appeared, and he propelled himself to the top of the shield where he began shooting down several of the small ships that threatened them. Rhodey and Sam joined the air attack, as did a number of the rangers.

Down on the Wakandan battlefield, Steve, Spider-Man, and several others kept both the outriders at bay. At one point, however, Steve was overwhelmed by them. However, suddenly, he heard gunfire that clipped a number of them. They died, and Steve struggled through the pile to see who had saved him.

"Bucky?" Steve smiled. Bucky didn't respond, instead raising his weapon and began shooting. Alarmed, Steve readied his shield, but the shots didn't come for him. He looked to find dead outriders surrounding him.

"We'll catch up later," he shrugged.

"Yeah, Cap, no time for swooning over your long-lost buddy," Romanoff quipped. Cap slammed an outrider with his shield without looking, sending it crashing into the dirt.

"I wasn't swooning," he muttered.

"Hey, when this is all said and done, I gotta watch out for that raccoon," Bucky mentioned. "He seemed obsessed with taking my arm."

"Well, I don't think you'll have to worry about that, we haven't seen any sign of them," Steve replied as they stood back to back now, taking different outriders out. Suddenly they saw the Hulk flying towards them, and Steve pushed Bucky out of the way. Hulk left a massive crater where they had been standing. They looked over to see Thanos. "We've gotta find a way to neutralize Hela and Thanos. It's doing us no good just to focus on their foot soldiers."

"Well, we'd love to help Cap, but we're kinda busy up here taking care of the cast of Mars Attacks," Tony quipped.

"We're being overwhelmed," Tommy replied. "We're outmanned."

"But we're not out-gunned," Kim realized. "Rocky, can you give a jolt from the power stone?"

"Let me give it a shot!" He cried. Suddenly, the skies turned purple. His suit began to glow, and he began to scream, splitting through their intercoms.

"Rocky, you ok?!" Adam cried.

"ARRGGHHHH!" An explosive wave of purple energy burst forth from his suit, aimed solely at the Sovereign's fighters. In a flash they vaporized, clearing a major part of the skies of her armies. But the energy output clearly took a toll on him, as he drifted to the ground. Adam and Tommy followed him down, landing more softly than Rocky did, who did with a bit more of a thud. He collapsed to one knee, and his helmet dematerialized.

"What's wrong?" Tommy asked.

"It took so much out of me," Rocky stammered, gasping for air as he tried to communicate.

"Let's not do that again, unless we have too," Adam instructed, earning a thankful nod from his friend.

Elsewhere on the battlefield, several Wakandan soldiers attempted to take down Hela, but several of them lost their lives trying. She currently held M'Baku in her grasp, ready to deal a killing strike, when she was blasted from behind. M'Baku scrambled, and Hela turned to find Doctor Strange as the culprit.

"You dare challenge the goddess of death?" She asked, grinning at the wizard.

"My mission is to protect life on this planet," Strange replied. "And since you threaten it, you leave me no choice but to rise up and stop you." The response illicited a small chuckle from the black-horned goddess, but she quickly flicked her hands to hurl massive swords at the master of mystic arts. He quickly used spells to defend from the attack, rendering her blades futile. However, she charged at him quickly. He used his sling ring to open a portal, and she ran straight through it. Another opened up 20 feet above, and she fell to the ground in a heap.

He spoke an incantation and used the red bands of Cytorak, which looked like wide red bands sprayed out from his hand. They leashed themselves around her body, rendering her immobile for the moment.

"Is that the best you can do?" Hela taunted as she looked at her foe. She quickly slashed through the bands and rose to her feet, her face menacing as she gazed at Strange. "Congratulations, you survived a few seconds longer than your comrades."

"I could probably do more," Strange replied confidently. "But, I was never banking on being the one to take you out."

"What?"

Suddenly, a massive surge of light and energy entered the Wakandan space. It captured everyone's attention, especially those who had fought in the first battle of Wakanda.

"It can't be," Steve whispered, close enough for Strange to hear him.

"It is," he smirked.

"Thor..." Hela whispered. "My brother will not..." She was interrupted by a blast from a massive gun. The light dissipated, and several warriors, including Thor, Loki, and Rocket, were gathered together, including a large rock monster holding the weapon. He lowered the weapon for a moment, and looked over towards the other avengers. "My name is Korg, and the Lord of Thunder..."

"God," Thor interrupted.

"God of Thunder, here, suggested we start another Revolution, so, here we are to help."

"Now I've seen everything," Steve muttered under his breath.

Hela stood back up and gave a wicked grin. "Is that all you can do?"

"No, it's not," Thor replied.

"Actually, dear sister, it turns out the legends are all true," Loki smirked.

"What legends?" Hela snarled. Suddenly, another beam of energy blasted her to the far edge of the Wakandan shields. Everyone gasped at the sheer power of the blast. Well, all except Dr. Strange, who merely just looked over to the new arrivals. A woman stepped forward had a glimmering red and blue suit covering her body, with flowing blonde hair down to her shoulders.

"Carol Danvers, I presume," Strange started.

"How did you know that?" She asked.

"I've seen this play out before," he grinned. "For a moment I wondered if you all would show up, or if I was about to be skewered." He looked over towards Thor and Loki. "We're going to have to talk about your consistent violations of bringing Loki to our planet."

"No offense," Steve finally piped up. "But is this really the time for you guys to talk about this?"

"He's right," Thor replied. "Hela will be back. The blast was strong, but it won't keep her down for long." He looked around briefly. "Where's Thanos?" As he asked the question, a loud roar was heard.

"Probably where that roar came from," Rogers replied.

"Banner?!" Thor replied. "But..."

"Apparently he was all busted up that I was dying," Tony interrupted, flying alongside Tommy and Kim. "Good to have you back, Thor."

"It's good to be back," Thor replied. "What did we miss?"

"I am Groot," Groot replied, the Guardians approaching the new arrivals.

"Groot?!" Rocket gasped, emerging from the group. He ran and leapt onto the tree-like being, and they collapsed to the ground.

"Look, I know we're all excited to each other," Tony started.

"Shut your frickin mouth, Stark," Rocket shot at him.

"No, Tony's right," Tommy interjected. "Look, we have this small reprieve, we need to figure out what to do."

"We were able to disable a number of enemy ships, but we're still pretty overwhelmed up there," Kim added. "We had to leave the others up to fight, and if we don't get back up there..."

"I can fight up in the skies and take the fight to them," a new fighter approached, who mounted a beautiful winged white horse. "The name's Valkerie."

"I can join her," Danvers added.

"And so can I," Quill replied, using his jet repulsion anklets.

"Good," Steve commented. "But Danvers, you stick to the ground, help Thor and Loki with Hela." They nodded. "Rangers, you guys stick to the skies until things clear up a bit. Clint?"

"Yes boss?" Hawkeye replied over coms.

"You know what to do. Get to high ground, pick off strays. Romanoff, help lead the ground attack with Groot, Rocket, and the other guardians, Spider-man. Coordinate with T'Challa and his armies. And let Hulk smash a few things along the way." He turned over to Doctor Strange. "I want you in the middle of all this. Someone needs protection, utilize your shields and magic."

"What about you, Captain?" Tony asked.

"I'm going after Thanos."

"Not alone you're not," Tony reprimanded him. "I'm coming with you."

"So are we," Tommy and Kim replied simultaneously.

"We need to contain the fight up there!" Steve replied.

"They will, especially with the help they're about to receive," Tommy assured him. "But you can't take on Thanos by yourself, and you know it."

"I don't know if any of us can take him on," Steve confessed.

"Then we'll fight together," Tony reminded him. They locked eyes for a moment, silently acknowledging the weight they felt taking on the mad titan. "And if we lose, we'll do that together too."

"Thanks," Steve replied. He turned to the rest of the group of heroes. "You have your orders. Avengers, Assemble!"

Tommy, Kim, Tony, and Steve walked slowly over towards Thanos as the rest of the team left to their respective assignments. After a couple of moments, they confronted the warrior, who had just finished killing another one of the men from the Border Tribe. He looked over at the four of them and smirked, and stood up tall, brandishing a double bladed sword.

"I remember seeing you delivering that bomb through the portal all those years ago," Thanos started. "Loki was to bring me the tesseract. He failed me. But ever since that moment, I knew who you were, Stark. I knew you were my greatest threat."

"No offense, pal, but there's quite a few of us," Stark chided. "I mean, not that I don't like taking credit for things, but..."

"You flew through that wormhole and destroyed my army," Thanos challenged. "You survived space and created tech to utilize the zeo crystal and harness the power of the stones. You enabled other warriors to grow stronger. You have been my greatest foe. The greatest challenger. For that, I give my respects."

"You said the same thing as I was dying," Tony said sullenly.

"You have harnessed the power of the stones, you have undone what I had always dreamed of doing. But you will not keep me from my destiny. I am inevitable."

"To get these stones back, you gotta go through us," Kim challenged.

"Exactly," Thanos grinned. He leapt through the air and slashed his sword to knock Tommy back, while Kim and Iron Man blasted Thanos with their repulsors. He blocked both of their attacks with his blade, spinning it in his hand to repel the blast. He spun around and swung his weapon to hit Captain America's shield out of the air, with his large boot thrusting into his mid-section, sending him flying across the battlefield. Iron Man landed some small missile strikes into Thanos' broad chest, leaving him staggering. However, as he flew in close to land a blow, he caught him by his head and smashed him to the ground.

Kim flew in and landed a massive blow on his face, and then ducked under his blade and kicked him in the knee. This caused him to stumble to his knee, which allowed her to gain the upper hand for a moment. She kicked his weapon out of his hand, and then began to pummel him with rights and lefts, finally blasting him in the face with her repulsors. His body jostled through the grounds, shrouded by a cloud of dust and dirt from the blast. Though no one could see her face, she gave a small, triumphant smile. However, it was short-lived, as through the dust Thanos' gloved hand reached out and grabbed a hold of Kim's helmet, the strength of his grip so powerful that it disintegrated within his grasp.

Kim choked on the rubble, backing away from her foe, all the while knowing her head was currently exposed. She tried to summon the nanobots to form a new helmet, but before she could, Thanos' large hand grasped her throat, rendering her unable to breathe. She tried to fight him off, her body jerking around, but to no avail. Flying in for the save was Tommy, who landed a massive kick to his temple, the impact causing him to release Kimberly from his chokehold. She landed with a thud on the ground, and he briefly landed beside her.

"You ok?" Tommy asked her, and she gave a quick nod. He left her after the small assurance, and he continued on the offensive. He blasted the villain with shot after shot, and then withdrew a sword from his suit. He slashed at him, but Thanos had regained his weapon and after he blocked a few of Tommy's attacks, he regained the upper-hand and Tommy was down once more. This time Thanos stood on his mid-section and pointed his double-bladed sword towards his chest piece.

"I'm going to pry that stone from your chest, green ranger," he threatened menacingly. "I'm going to pry each and every stone from each of you, leaving you all in a bloody heap. And then, your only contribution in this will be your own bloody deaths." Tommy grimaced as he saw Thanos ready to plunge the blade into his chest. But when the deathblow came, he heard a clank of steel. He looked to find Thanos' blade blocked by a very familiar blade. He looked over to see a red handle, with the emblem of a Tyrannasaurus engraved in it's center, being held by a very familiar white glove.

"I'm glad you finally went back to your original color, rather than continuing to steal all of ours," Jason, the original red ranger, grunted. Thanos quickly swung his blade at his new challenger, but he dodged his strike, which enabled Tommy to blast him with his repulsors. Tommy rose up, his helmet disappearing to show the shock in his face.

"Jase?" He merely nodded.

"It's good to see you on the other side." Tommy looked to find Zack, Billy, and Trini all morphed as well, and ready to fight.

"Thanks for fighting to get us back," Zack commented.

"Zack?" Kim was the one who now asked, as she was able to get up and see her old team.

"I never pegged you as an orange kind of girl, but, if anyone can rock it it's you," Zack joked.

"Thanks, I think," Kim replied.

Suddenly, the airborne rangers descended to their level.

"Tommy, we've been able to push back the Sovereign's forces," Kat started.

"Great... but what are we going to do about him?" Tommy replied, pointing towards a rising Thanos.

"We need to find a way to bring the stones together," Kat responded.

"Or at least the power of the stones," Kim added. "Remember how we were able to get the power of the stones?"

"They were channeled through Stormbreaker!" Kat exclaimed.

"Thor!" Tommy yelled through his coms. "We need you over here!"

"A bit busy at the moment," he gasped. That was because he was currently removing one of Hela's blades from his shoulder. However, Hela couldn't finish him off because she was engaged with Captain Marvel. While Marvel was certainly a formidle opponent for the goddess of death, she hadn't quite figured out how to land any significant damage to her. She continued to shoot energy blasts as her offense, and use her protective energy to deflect any attacks against her, but it the battle felt like a stalemate.

Suddenly, hundreds if not thousands of forms surrounded Hela. Loki had multiplied his image and imposed it on his sister, but she quickly slashed through them, spinning while flinging her death blades all around. Many of his forms disappeared, but it was enough of a distraction for Danvers to land a blast. She quickly flew over towards her, grabbed her by the throat and flung her down to the ground. Thor landed by Hela's side and placed the blade of his axe towards her throat.

"Yield," Thor asked. She grunted, but he pressed the blade against her throat even harder. "Yield!" He forced out once more. He looked over to Danvers and Loki, who had run up towards them, holding his shoulder. "Are you ok, brother?"

"One of her blades grazed it, but I'm fine otherwise."

"Watch after her," he commanded the pair. "I'm needed elsewhere." He flew off, and as soon as he did, Hela tried to make a move against Danvers, but she forced her foot down on her throat and chest.

"Don't even think about it," She threatened.

"Who do you think you are?" Hela choked out.

"The strongest avenger," she joked.

"I like you," Loki grinned.

"I'll like you too, as long as you don't turn into a snake to scare me."

Thor tuned out their playful banter and made his way to the battlefield with Thanos, who had recovered and began waylaying the rangers, as well as Tony and Steve. He saw the original team of rangers, and a look of confusion came across his face. "There are more of you?" Before he could do anything, he saw something flying towards his head, he dove out of the way, and found it was Tony, who had been picked up and thrown through the air.

"Are you okay?" Thor asked.

"Yeah, yeah, really really good," Tony quipped. "You planning on helping us out, Hercules?" Thor's eyes began to light up.

"Yes," he uttered. He charged his axe with energy from his lightning, and he leapt into the air, ready to strike down, but as he approached, his thrust was blocked by Thanos' blade. They clashed their weapons, Thor trying to slash with brute force. However, Thanos got Thor off balance and slashed his blade upward, catching Thor with the broad side of the weapon and knocking him high in the air before he crashed back down into the earth.

Katherine saw the god of thunder down, with Thanos ready to destroy him. She ran to shield him from the blow, and fired her repulsors at him. He shielded himself with his blade until he got close enough to her, and grabbed her by her helmet, slamming her down. He readied his blade for a killing blow, but Captain America was able to block the strike, sliding down by her and hiding her under his vibranium shield. He continued to strike over and over again, breaking the shield in half. He kicked him across the battlefield, and he tumbled onto his belly and began to get to his knees, though it was very slowly. Before he could get to his feet, however, Thanos grabbed Steve by his throat and began to choke the life out of him.

"You're an honorable man, Captain Rogers, I'll give you that," Thanos muttered, choking the life out of him effortlessly. Rogers tried to speak, but his grip was so powerful that nothing came out. "Fine, I'll give you your last rites." He loosened his grip just for a moment.

"I can do this all day," he gasped. Thanos merely smiled.

"No, you can't." He began to tighten his grip, but he felt a sharp pain in shoulder blade. The blow, caused by Stormbreaker, caused enough damage to free the bloodied hero from his grasp. Quickly, Thor summoned his mighty axe back to himself.

"Now!" He cried.

Thanos looked to see the six stone keepers assembled, charging their powers. All six released a wave of energy that hit the Thor's raised weapon, which he used to channel the energy and then shot it at Thanos. He let go of Captain Rogers, who swiftly rolled out of the way, so that he could brace himself against the blast. He spun his sword, in hopes of deflecting the massive beam. It held up for a moment as he spun the weapon furiously, but at last the power of the infinity stones conquered. He screamed in agony as the power came up against his flesh, and then there was silence.

 _ **To Be Continued**_

 _ **Thanks for reading, don't forget to review!**_

 _ **\- Googz333**_


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N: When I started this story, I had so many different ideas. But I bit off more than I could chew, mostly due to the sheer amount of characters. Writing this story gives me an even more profound respect for what the Russo brothers pulled off in Infinity War and Endgame. Still, I hope that the ending for you is satisfying. I had to cut some things out that I would have liked to continue pursuing, but at the end of the day, this story would have become far too drawn out. Thanks for reading, and for your patience!**

 **Death Was Arrested – Chapter 18**

The cosmic war ended with Thanos' death. While his outriders and leviathans continued to skermish with the heroes, once Adam recovered from the expenditure of energy, he was able to send the henchmen back across space with his stone. Meanwhile, Doctor Strange used his magic to imprison Hela. An eternity of falling, which Loki remembered and shuddered considering he spent thirty minutes doing the same.

While the war was over, however, the rebuilding had just begun. As the heroes wrangled up loose ends, those who had been snapped into the soul stone began to have bittersweet reunions with those who had survived it. If they weren't on the battlefield, they were calling from home. Scott Lang was reconnected with Hope Van Dyne, Clint Barton spoke with his wife over the phone, Katherine found out her brother Danny was back.

After the rangers powered down, they all looked at one another with smiles on their faces and tears in their eyes.

"Thanks for saving us, guys," Zack shared. "I was starting to feel cooped up in that place."

"No kidding," Trini replied. "It feels amazing to be back."

"It's good to see you guys back in the land of the living," Adam smiled. "But how did you get here? How did you get your powers back."

"I may have had something to do with that," Doctor Strange appeared in their midst. His appearance shocked all of them, except for Jason, Tommy, and Kim. After all, they had interacted with the master of the mystic arts.

"You knew how this would play out the whole time," Tommy replied.

"I knew certain things that had to happen in order for us to win," Strange answered. "Out of all the possibilities I foresaw, once we got to you gaining the soul stone, there were still hundreds of scenarios where it wouldn't have worked out. But I knew what had to happen in order for us to have a chance."

"What do we do with the stones now?" Kimberly asked. "Something tells me that these wouldn't exactly be helpful just to have laying around."

"We'll figure that out in due time," Strange replied.

"I'd like to give Pepper the purple one," Tony quipped, entering into their circle. "She looks pretty in the color."

"Not going to happen," Strange replied coolly.

"Hey," Tony placed his hand on the wizard's shoulder. "I was wrong about you. Everything you did, it saved the universe." He looked over at the rangers, particularly the ones wearing his newly enhanced zeo suits. "You all are way better at this than I thought. Because of that, you all can keep my suits."

"Thanks, but, I think it'd be nice to go back to being retired from rangering," Rocky answered.

"No kidding," Tanya added. "It was a nice rush, but, I think we'll return them." Kat and Adam agreed with her, but Tommy and Kim remained silent.

"I don't know..." Tommy started. "Can we think about it and get back to you? About the suits that is?"

"The rush of power's got the good doctor intrigued," Tony quipped. "Is that enough for the lovely Ms. Hart to follow suit?" The comment turned everyone's attention to Kimberly, who blushed a little. "I mean, that kiss..."

"Wait... what kiss?" Rocky asked, while Zack and Jason grinned. "What's he..."

"Nothing, Rocky," Kim fibbed as she shot Tony a menacing look. He merely shrugged.

"What? You should know by now that I'm not the one who doesn't kiss and tell," Tony joked. "Or at least, in this instance, see a kiss and tell."

*Three Months Later – Hayley's Cyberspace*

After the dust had settled, and the rangers went their separate ways, Kim decided to move to Reefside. She didn't know what the future was with her and Tommy, but she figured she should at least give them another shot. The only way she really felt like she could do that was by being in the same vicinity as him. And what better time to uproot her life than right after a universal emergency, where society was resetting anyway.

After an initial icy exchange between Kim and Tommy's best friend, Hayley took a liking to the former pink and orange ranger. With Kim needing a job, Hayley offered her a manager position, with part of her role being the booking director with all the local bands and artists that wanted to play at their space.

This morning in particular, she arrived at Hayley's Cyberspace early, and she began cleaning the bar counter when Hayley walked in.

"You're here early," the red-head muttered, stifling a yawn.

"Couldn't sleep," Kim replied. "Figured I might as well be productive. Besides, I live alone, Tommy's at the high school, and I still haven't made too many other friends. I figured I could spend time with you opening up."

"Extrovert?" Hayley joked, to which Kimberly chuckled. "And a morning person."

"Definitely not a morning person," Kim replied. The shift in tone was easy to notice, even for someone as tired as Hayley. "I just... I keep wondering it's going to happen again."

"What do you mean?" She asked, though it only took another few seconds to realize what she was talking about. "Oh. You mean if all of us are going to turn to dust in front of you." Kim nodded. "You know, it's easy to forget the trauma that our disappearance caused to those we left behind. For us, we were just gone for a moment. A little discomfort, and then we were back. But for you..."

"Everything was destroyed in an instant," a familiar voice interrupted. At least, familiar to Kimberly. The two women turned to find Captain Rogers behind them. He walked over to Hayley and extended his hand. "Steve Rogers." She shook his hand vigorously, amazed that she was shaking the famed Captain America's hand.

"Hay-Hay-ley," she gawked. Kimberly chuckled at the normally reserved red-head's star-struckness. She gave Captain Rogers a big hug, he was a welcome sight to her.

"What are you doing here?" Kimberly asked after they left the embrace.

"I was actually hoping that I could steal you and the good doctor for the day," he replied. "Official Avengers business."

"Avengers?" Kim asked quizzically. "Look, it was fun to team with you guys, but I'm just getting settled here, and we don't even have our powers..."

"We can settle all of that after you come with us," Steve smiled. While he smiled at her, she had a sinking feeling in her stomach. However, they left the cafe with Hayley's blessing, and then went to pick up Tommy at the school. (Kim went in by herself, knowing the commotion Captain America would cause in the middle of classes at Reefside High!)

After a ride in the quin-jet, the trio made it to the Avengers Headquarters, which was still undergoing renovations from its encounter with Thanos and his army. He led them to the empty conference room, and directed them to sit down in the chairs that rested at the long, gray table. Steve grabbed the pair some coffee, and then sat down across from them.

"We'll start in a moment," Steve started. "There are a couple other people who want to talk with you."

"Who would want to talk with us?" Tommy asked. "We're just powerless rangers."

"That was precisely what I thought you'd say," Tony quipped as he walked in the room. "But, you know, I do a pretty good job of making suits, and I think you'd both do a bang-up job piloting a couple of new ones, you know, infused with a bit of your zeo crystal." He sat down next to Steve and looked at him, and then back to Tommy and Kim. "Come on, you know you want to be Avengers. Besides, that's a much cooler designation than power ranger anyway."

"Is that so?" Tommy rolled his eyes at Tony's sarcastic wit. Suddenly, an orange ringed portal opened up beside Steve and Tony, causing all four of them to jump. Out of it came Stephen Strange, who gracefully descended into the room and looked at the four of them.

"What have I told you about that, Doc?" Tony quipped. "You keep doing that, we might get jumpy and do something to hurt you."

"I'll be fine," he smirked. He turned to Captain Rogers. "Sorry I'm late." He then shifted his gaze towards Tommy and Kim. "Thank you for coming, we have some important matters to discuss."

"Look, I all ready told Captain Rogers that, as honored as we'd feel, we don't think it would be appropriate to join the Avengers," Kim interjected. "We're just getting back on our feet, we haven't had our powers for a while..."

"You offered them positions on the Avengers main team?" Strange asked as he looked at Tony. "Tony, we talked about this."

"I can't help if that's what they assumed, I never said that," Tony held up his hands as he responded.

"Wait... so you don't want us to be Avengers?" Tommy asked.

"Well, not exactly," Steve replied. "We actually were wondering if you could do a favor for us. We have an Avengers team currently assembled, so we don't have any open spots currently. What we could use is a full network of former rangers who could be available at a moment's notice, the next time we have a global-scale event."

"Another one?" Kim asked.

"Well, I mean, at this rate we have one about every three years," Tony quipped.

"Tommy, you know the history of the power rangers better than anyone," Steve continued. "Would you be willing to start this up for us?"

"You know I will," Tommy smiled. "But, is that all you brought us here for?"

"Well, we figured we could have you start that here, and we could align all of our databases..." Tony started, but was quickly interrupted.

There's more," Strange interjected. "There's also the small matter of the infinity stones."

"Small?" Tony quipped, which earned him a stern look from both Captain Rogers and Doctor Strange, and a smile from Tommy and a chuckle from Kimberly.

"For most of them, we were able to put them in places that were similar to their former resting places, but we couldn't really do that with the soul stone," Strange continued. "We wondered if it was meant to rest with Ms. Hart?"

"Me?!"

"You acquitted yourself well on our mission, Ms. Hart," Rogers shared. "And you showed that you were worthy of holding onto the soul stone then. Maybe you should hang on to it for a little while longer." Strange summoned it almost out of thin air, and then, controlling it with his mind, the stone drifted in the air towards Kimberly until it landed in her petite hand.

"I don't know what to say," she said. "It's an honor to serve in this way."

"It's honor to serve alongside you, Ms. Hart," Captain Rogers replied.

"Just make sure you don't go around flaunting that rock around Reefside," Tony quipped.

"Fine..." She mock sighed. "I guess someone's going to need to get me a better rock so I can flaunt that instead." She grinned devlishly as she looked over to Tommy, who blushed at the assertion, and brought a chuckle from the three co-leaders of the avengers.

*Six Months Later – Angel Grove*

" _I'm not sure why the guys suggested the same restaurant,"_ Kim thought to herself. She arrived at the same elegant establishment the year before, where she saw the original ranger team turn to dust. She wore a deep blue dress, which certainly wasn't the normal color she wore. But she felt it appropriate given the cool weather in February, even in California. She entered alone, and wondered why Tommy had insisted on arriving separately.

The hostess showed her to her seat, where the original team sat together, along with Adam, Tanya, and Rocky, who let out a low whistle.

"You better watch it, Rocko," Adam joked. "Fearless leader might get a little upset if he thinks you're moving in on his girl."

"Speaking of fearless leader, where is he?" Kim asked as she began to sit down.

"He had to take care of a few things," Jason grinned knowingly, his smile giving Kim a weird feeling. She looked around and realized that, while it was prime dinner time, many of the tables were empty.

"Is it me, or is there like, no one here?"

"Maybe we got lucky?" Tanya suggested.

"Lucky?" Kim rolled her eyes. "My birthday is on February 14th, and I've never seen a restaurant empty on Valentine's Day, especially Milano's. What gives?"

"Good evening, Madame," a familiar voice said to Kimberly. She turned and was surprised to find Scott Lang dressed to the nines as her waiter.

"Scott?"

"Hi. Uhh... Happy birthday."

"Thanks. What are you doing here?"

"Well... I'm the one on the team with the most recent experience in food services, so I got the role of waiter tonight."

"Wait... what do you mean..."

"I worked at Baskin Robbins, but then they found out that I was in prison for being a thief..."

"No, I don't mean why are you the waiter," Kim interjected. "What do you mean you got the role?"

"Right... you don't need to know about Baskin Robbins, I don't know why I even thought to tell you all about that. See, the thing is, Mr. Stark kind of rented out the restaurant for the night."

"Dude..." Zack sighed.

"What?" Scott replied.

"You weren't supposed to tell her," Peter Parker appeared, carrying the water pitchers to their table. "Even I knew that!"

"Spider-boy?" Kim asked.

"Man..." He interrupted. "Spider... I mean, I'm Peter."

"Boys..." Tony appeared behind them. "Some of the other guests are arriving, maybe you should help them." The pair nodded and left straight away, leaving Tony with the rangers. "Thought the owner of the soul stone deserved a special birthday celebration, especially since the last one was, well, terrifying."

"Thank you?" Kim asked. "I mean, don't take this the wrong way, I'm very appreciative of the gesture, but you rented out this whole restaurant for me?"

"I mean, it was also the only way Nat and I could get that old fuddy duddy to go on a date, so that was added motivation," Tony quipped. Before they could ask what he meant by that, they heard a sweet Aussie voice behind them.

"Hey guys!" Kat's voice rang. They were all a bit taken aback, as she was holding hands with Captain Rogers.

"I was going to ask where you were," Kim chided her. "As well as why we were saving two seats for you."

"Let's just say, Steve is almost as shy as Tommy when it comes to asking out women," she grinned. The statement caused a slight blush come across his face.

"To be fair, your brother Danny was pretty stern about not letting me talk to you for a few months," he grinned.

"Most of the time I agree with my brother," Kat smiled. "But even though I'm glad to have him back, this is one of those times I wish he hadn't had input in my life."

"Sorry I'm late," Tommy interrupted as he made his way to their table. "Happy birthday, beautiful." He leaned down and gave her a quick peck on the cheek, sitting down beside her. Kat and Steve sat beside Tanya and Rocky respectively, and their dining experience began. Between Scott and Peter comedically making mistakes getting the right drink orders in, to Tony dropping by occasionally dropping his quick wit, the rangers plus Captain America were having a very fun time. As the night went on, Jason began to clink his glass.

"A year ago, the five original power rangers sat here to celebrate the 30th birthday of Kimberly Hart," Jason started. "While it started out ok... well, it didn't end well. But the rangers did what they've always done, which is fight. A lot of people, including many of us, owe our lives to what you all did. And I can't imagine a better way to celebrate than to celebrate a former Pink and Orange ranger's 31st birthday, than for us to be together."

"Well said, Mr. Scott," Steve smiled. However, while they listening to Jason's speech, what no one noticed was two ants crawling on their tablecloth, pushing a small black jewelry box towards Kim's placesetting. She looked down briefly, after the ants had left, to find it sitting in front of her.

"What's this?" Kim asked, picking up the small object.

"You know, about six months back, you mentioned that in order for you to not flaunt the Soul stone, I needed to buy you a better rock," Tommy started. He looked into Kimberly's eyes, his hand taking one of her hands. "Though I wouldn't have chosen the circumstances, I'm grateful that Thanos' snap brought me back to you. While I tried to forget you, forget us, it seemed that fate would always bring us back together. And now, here we are, one year later, and I'm reminded just how much I love you. And how I never stopped."

A tear slipped down Kimberly's face, one of joy and sheer happiness. She turned briefly to see inside the small box, fumbling with her one hand to get it open. In it she found what she expected, a solitaire diamond ring. Simple, yet elegant.

"Kimberly Anne Hart, will you marry me?"

"I..." Before she could respond, a portal opened up, and out came Doctor Strange.

"We have a problem," he replied. "Dormammu is threatening our world from the Dark Dimension, and we need all hands on deck." He looked around briefly and settled his eyes on Tommy and Kimberly. "Oh, congratulations on the engagement, by the way."

"You don't know if I'm going to say yes," Kimberly retorted, chewing her bottom lip.

"You don't have to be the Master of the Mystic Arts to know you're going to say yes," Strange replied dryly. "We need to go." Kimberly quickly looked at Tommy and gave him a kiss, as the rest of the group stood.

"We'll talk about dates when we're done," she smiled, with a sigh of relief coming from Tommy.

"Avengers... Assenble," Steve Rogers declared, the word prompting many others to come from behind the kitchen, and in one fell swoop, Strange transported them all, leaving the restaurant empty as they all, avengers and power rangers together, saved the world once more.

 **The End**

 **Thanks for reading, and for your patience!**

 **\- Googz333**


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